1958 Topps #290 Dick Donovan
About Dick Donovan
Card #290 is Donovan's entry in the fourth series of 1958 Topps, showing him with the Chicago White Sox. It follows his best season to that point: 16-6 with a 2.77 ERA in 1957, tying for the American League lead in winning percentage and leading it with 16 complete games (shared with Billy Pierce), and second to Warren Spahn in the Cy Young voting. He included one-hit shutouts of Cleveland on May 25 and Boston on July 20.
Richard Edward Donovan was born December 7, 1927, in Boston, Massachusetts, and was signed by the Boston Braves out of North Quincy High School, then served three years in the U.S. Navy before turning pro in 1947. He never won a game for the Braves or the Tigers. The turn came in the minors at Atlanta, where Whitlow Wyatt taught him a slider; going there, Donovan said, was the best thing that ever happened to him. The right-hander pitched in the majors from 1950 to 1965 for the Braves, Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians, and was an All-Star in 1955, 1961 and 1962 - five selections, because each of those last two seasons staged two All-Star Games. He saved Game Five of the 1959 World Series for Chicago, led the American League with a 2.40 ERA for the 1961 expansion Senators, and won 20 games for Cleveland in 1962. He finished 122-99 with a 3.67 ERA and, unusually for a pitcher, 15 home runs. Later a stockbroker and real-estate appraiser, he died of cancer on January 6, 1997, in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 251 | 0 | 9 | 90 | 85 | 41 | 16 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 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 Chicago White Sox cards:
- #11 Jim Rivera
- #11B Jim Rivera (Yellow Team)
- #26 Ron H. Jackson
- #50 Billy Pierce
- #50B Billy Pierce (Yellow Team)
- #56 Bill Fischer
- #85 Luis Aparicio
- #85B Luis Aparicio (Yellow Team)
- #100 Early Wynn
- #100B Early Wynn (Yellow Team)
- #108 Jim Landis
- #108B Jim Landis (Yellow Team)
- #129 Jim Derrington
- #138 Earl Torgeson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Dick Donovan card?
It is card #290 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 Dick Donovan, Chicago White Sox.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Dick Donovan #290 are there?
PSA has graded 251 copies and SGC 12 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.