1958 Topps #12 George Crowe
About George Crowe
Crowe's 1958 Topps card, #12, shows him with Cincinnati. It sits in Series 1, the opening run of #1-88 in a 494-card set, between Jim Rivera and Billy Hoeft. The year before, he hit .271 with 31 home runs and 92 RBI in 133 games for the Redlegs, filling in most of the season for the injured Ted Kluszewski. In 1958 he made the National League All-Star squad, and on June 14 he played an inning at second base wearing his first baseman's mitt.
George Crowe was a left-handed first baseman and pinch hitter who played nine major league seasons between 1952 and 1961 for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, the Cincinnati Redlegs, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Before he reached organized baseball he played in the Negro leagues with the New York Black Yankees in 1947 and 1948, and he was a standout basketball player too, voted Indiana's first Mr. Basketball in 1939 and later a member of the barnstorming New York Rens. Steady big-league playing time came late: he was 36 when he hit 31 home runs for Cincinnati in 1957, filling in for the injured Ted Kluszewski, and he was picked for the National League All-Star squad in 1958 though he never got into the game. Over nine seasons he batted .270 with 81 home runs and 299 RBI in 702 games, and he retired credited with the major league record for career pinch-hit home runs, 14 at the time, a mark later passed by Jerry Lynch and Cliff Johnson. Younger Black players leaned on him for guidance - Vada Pinson remembered Crowe telling him, "I'm your father, your big daddy up here" - and he was elected to Indiana's basketball and baseball halls of fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 275 | 1 | 8 | 92 | 102 | 37 | 21 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 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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- #34 Bob Thurman
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- #63 Joe Nuxhall
- #75 Gus Bell
- #103 Jerry Lynch
- #118 Harvey Haddix
- #126 Stan Palys
- #131 Bob Henrich
- #149 Tom Acker
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps George Crowe card?
It is card #12 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 George Crowe, Cincinnati Reds.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps George Crowe #12 are there?
PSA has graded 275 copies and SGC 16 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.