1958 Topps #492 Bob Friend
Part of the Sport Magazine All-Star Selection subset (#475-495) — the first time Topps printed separate All-Star cards, closing the 1958 set with a Hall of Fame-dense 21-card run.
About Bob Friend
Bob Friend has two 1958 Topps cards, both with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Base card #315 is a fourth-series issue; the season behind it was 1957, a 14-18 record and 3.38 ERA for a seventh-place club, with a league-high 38 starts and 277 innings. Card #492 sits in the Sport Magazine All-Star Selection subset (#475-495). In 1958 he won 22 games, led the league in wins, and made his second All-Star team.
Robert Bartmess Friend was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and grew up in West Lafayette, an all-state pitcher and all-state football halfback in high school. The nickname came out of the football: he was a good tailback, and once he began piling up innings in the majors, "Warrior" stuck. He signed with Pittsburgh in 1950 and spent 15 of his 16 big-league seasons there, closing out with the Yankees and Mets in 1966. Friend led the National League with a 2.83 ERA in 1955, the first pitcher to win an ERA title for a last-place club, and tied Warren Spahn for the league lead with 22 wins in 1958, finishing third in the Cy Young voting. A four-time All-Star (1956, 1958 and both 1960 games), he won the 1956 All-Star Game. Durability was the trademark: 200-plus innings in eleven straight seasons, three years leading the league in games started, and not one day on the disabled list. He finished 197-230 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,734 strikeouts, the only pitcher to lose more than 200 games without winning 200, and he still holds the Pirates' career records for innings pitched and strikeouts. He was Allegheny County controller from 1967 to 1975 and was elected to the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 467 | 0 | 5 | 93 | 148 | 111 | 52 | 58 | 0 |
| SGC | 79 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 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 Bob Friend in this set: #315
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #4 Hank Foiles
- #45 Dick Groat
- #52 Roberto Clemente
- #52B Roberto Clemente (Yellow Team)
- #74 Roy Face
- #82 Ron Kline
- #94 Bob Skinner
- #104 Jim Pendleton
- #132 Vern Law
- #151 Buddy Pritchard
- #172 Don Gross
- #178 Ted Kluszewski
- #198 Bill Virdon
- #218 Dick Rand
More from the All-Star subset:
- #475 All-Star Managers
- #476 Stan Musial
- #477 Bill Skowron
- #478 Johnny Temple
- #479 Nellie Fox
- #480 Eddie Mathews
- #481 Frank Malzone
- #482 Ernie Banks
- #483 Luis Aparicio
- #484 Frank Robinson
- #485 Ted Williams
- #486 Willie Mays
- #487 Mickey Mantle
- #488 Hank Aaron
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Bob Friend card?
It is card #492 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 Friend, Pittsburgh Pirates.
What is the 1958 Topps All-Star subset?
Cards #475-495 are the Sport Magazine All-Star Selection subset - the first time Topps printed separate All-Star cards. The 21-card run is dense with Hall of Famers: Musial, Mathews, Banks, Aparicio, F. Robinson, Williams, Mays, Mantle, Aaron and Spahn.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Bob Friend #492 are there?
PSA has graded 467 copies and SGC 79 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.