1958 Topps #245 Frank Lary
About Frank Lary
Frank Lary appears on card #245 in the third series of 1958 Topps, pictured with the Detroit Tigers. The season behind it was his 1957: 40 games, 35 starts and 237.2 innings, finishing 11-16 with a 3.98 ERA. A year earlier he had led the American League with 21 wins and gone 5-1 against a Yankees club that won 97 games.
Frank Strong Lary was a hard-throwing right-hander who anchored the Detroit Tigers rotation from 1955 through 1961 and earned three All-Star selections across 1960 and 1961. Born April 10, 1930 in Northport, Alabama, the sixth of seven sons of a cotton farmer and semipro spitball pitcher, he learned the game on a mound his father built in the family's front yard, then pitched the University of Alabama into the 1950 College World Series. Detroit signed him that summer; the Army took the next two years. He led the American League with 21 wins in 1956, paced the league in complete games in 1958, 1960 and 1961, and peaked at 23-9 in 1961, when he also won a Gold Glove and finished third in the Cy Young voting behind Whitey Ford and Warren Spahn. The nickname lasted: the Yankee Killer went 27-10 against New York from 1955 through 1961, years the Yankees won six pennants. A sore arm arrived in 1962 and never left, and he closed out with the Mets, Braves and White Sox. Final line: 128-116, 3.49 ERA, 21 shutouts, 1,099 strikeouts over twelve seasons. He coached and scouted, then ran a construction business in Tuscaloosa, and entered the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. He died December 13, 2017.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 283 | 0 | 14 | 110 | 79 | 45 | 16 | 19 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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 Frank Lary card?
It is card #245 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 Frank Lary, Detroit Tigers.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Frank Lary #245 are there?
PSA has graded 283 copies and SGC 15 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.