1958 Topps #279 Bob Boyd
About Bob Boyd
Bob Boyd's 1958 Topps card, #279, shows him with the Baltimore Orioles and sits in the fourth series of a 494-card set. The line-drive hitter nicknamed Rope was coming off his best year, hitting .318 in 141 games in 1957, fourth in the American League batting race behind Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle and Gene Woodling. He was the first Oriole regular of the century to top .300, and in 1958 he hit .309 with a career-high seven home runs.
Robert Richard Boyd, a left-handed-hitting, left-handed-throwing first baseman born in Potts Camp, Mississippi, started out in the Negro leagues with the Memphis Red Sox, batting .352, .369 and .371 in three seasons there. In 1950 he became the first Black player to sign with the Chicago White Sox, and he reached the majors on September 8, 1951. Chicago sold him to St. Louis in 1954, and Baltimore selected him from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 major league draft of November 1955. Nicknamed "Rope" for the line drives he hit, Boyd batted .300 or better in four of his five Baltimore seasons, peaking at .318 in 1957, fourth in the American League and the first .300 season by a regular in modern Orioles history. He led the American League in putouts at first base that year, and in April 1959 he started the first triple play ever turned on an opening day. He closed out in 1961 with Kansas City and Milwaukee, finishing at .293 with 19 home runs and 175 RBI in 693 major league games. He is a member of the Negro League Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 298 | 0 | 7 | 99 | 114 | 43 | 13 | 22 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8). PSA counts are straight-graded (the +/Q qualifier rows are excluded).
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #6 George Zuverink
- #28 Jim Busby
- #40 George Kell
- #67 Joe Ginsberg
- #84 Billy O'Dell
- #96 Joe Durham
- #105 Billy Gardner
- #113 Jerry Walker
- #121 Eddie Miksis
- #141 Ken Lehman
- #165 Bob Nieman
- #179 Willy Miranda
- #191 Art Ceccarelli
- #217 Jack Harshman
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Bob Boyd card?
It is card #279 of the 1958 Topps Baseball set - Topps' sixth flagship issue: 494 cards numbered 1-495 (#145 was never issued), with die-cut player photos on solid-color backgrounds and the first team logos on Topps fronts. It pictures Bob Boyd, Baltimore Orioles.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Bob Boyd #279 are there?
PSA has graded 298 copies and SGC 21 as of the 2026-07-09 snapshot. Population is a scarcity guide, not a price - high-grade 1958s are notoriously tough because of the set's chronic centering and print-quality issues.
How many cards are in the 1958 Topps set?
494 issued cards, numbered 1-495 - #145 (Ed Bouchee) was pulled before release and never issued, leaving a permanent gap. The PSA master census counts 534 items: the 494 base cards plus 33 yellow-letter variations, 4 numerical checklist-back team cards, the 'Herrer' #433 error, and 2 unnumbered ad cards.
Sources: PSA CardFacts, Beckett, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research (Topps Archives, 2026). Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-09-30.