1958 Topps #445 Bob Smith
About Bob Smith
Smith made the Red Sox out of spring training and debuted April 22 against the Yankees. He won his first three starts, was 4-3 with a 3.78 ERA in 17 games (seven starts) by mid-July, then was optioned to Minneapolis. His 1958 Topps card, #445 in the sixth and final series, shows him with Boston and is his rookie card. It is a regular issue with no catalogued variation.
Robert Walkup Smith was a left-handed pitcher from Clarence, Missouri, born in 1928. He starred at the University of Missouri, earning All-Big Seven honors in 1948, 1949 and 1950, and signed with the Boston Red Sox organization in 1950. His minor league path was long and bumpy: he walked away from the game for a stretch to work his farm, returned in 1954, and won 13 games with six shutouts for the San Francisco Seals in 1957. Writers on the West Coast tagged him Riverboat, reportedly because he worked hitters with the cunning of a riverboat gambler, and he said he liked the name because it kept him from being mistaken for other Bob Smiths. He reached the majors in 1958 with Boston and appeared in 30 big league games through 1959, also pitching for the Cubs and Indians, finishing 4-4 with a 4.75 ERA. He spent four more seasons at Triple-A, then went home to Clarence, where he and his wife ran a feed lot business for 30 years and helped build local ballfields. He died there in 2003.
Sources: SABR BioProject · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 328 | 1 | 7 | 109 | 111 | 63 | 15 | 21 | 1 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 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).
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Related cards
More Bob Smith in this set: #226
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #1 Ted Williams
- #18 Frank Sullivan
- #29 Ted Lepcio
- #38 Dick Gernert
- #59 Dave Sisler
- #73 Pete Daley
- #89 Billy Klaus
- #130 Jackie Jensen
- #148 Billy Consolo
- #167 Frank Baumann
- #189 George Susce
- #197 Haywood Sullivan
- #204 Leo Kiely
- #220 Tom Brewer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Bob Smith card?
It is card #445 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 Smith, Boston Red Sox.
Is the 1958 Topps Bob Smith #445 a rookie card?
Yes - #445 is a rookie card, one of 103 in the 1958 Topps set.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Bob Smith #445 are there?
PSA has graded 328 copies and SGC 19 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.