1958 Topps #138 Earl Torgeson
About Earl Torgeson
1958 Topps #138 is Earl Torgeson's card from the second series, showing the first baseman with the Chicago White Sox. He came off 1957 split between Detroit and Chicago, hitting .286 with 8 home runs and 51 RBI in 116 games, and he led the American League with a .999 fielding average at first base. Known as the Earl of Snohomish, after his Washington hometown, he was a 1950 National League runs leader.
Clifford Earl Torgeson was a tall, bespectacled left-handed first baseman from Snohomish, Washington, who played fifteen major league seasons from 1947 through 1961 for the Braves, Phillies, Tigers, White Sox and Yankees. A regular for nine years, he paired a superb batting eye with baserunning speed rare at his position, leading the National League with 120 runs scored in 1950 and stealing 20 bases in 1951; with Sam Jethroe he gave the early-1950s Braves the best base-stealing tandem in the game. He finished at .265 with 149 home runs, 740 runs batted in and 980 walks, and his .385 career on-base percentage towered over the .339 league average of his era. In 1957, split between Detroit and Chicago, he led the American League with a .999 fielding average at first base. Fierce enough to be remembered for his brawls, he was also a clubhouse favorite for his humor. He played in the 1948 World Series for Boston, batting .389 to lead all regulars in a six-game loss to Cleveland, and reached it again with the 1959 pennant-winning White Sox. He later served Snohomish County as a commissioner and as director of emergency management, and died in Everett, Washington in 1990.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 375 | 1 | 14 | 143 | 116 | 61 | 26 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Earl Torgeson card?
It is card #138 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 Earl Torgeson, Chicago White Sox.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Earl Torgeson #138 are there?
PSA has graded 375 copies and SGC 18 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.