1958 Topps #53B Morrie Martin
Yellow-name (YN) lettering variation - the player name is printed in yellow instead of white. The white version is the common counterpart; yellow variants run roughly 2-2.5x scarcer.
Yellow Name lettering variation: the player name is printed in yellow instead of white. PSA population data puts yellow copies at roughly 2-2.5x scarcer than their white counterparts.
About Morrie Martin
Martin worked out of the bullpen in 1958, appearing in 31 games without a start and going 5-1 with a 3.74 ERA, first for St. Louis and then Cleveland. His 1958 Topps #53 shows him as a Cardinal and comes in the common white lettering and in a yellow-name printing.
Morrie Martin was a left-handed pitcher from Dixon, Missouri, who worked 250 major league games over ten seasons for the Dodgers, Athletics, White Sox, Orioles, Cardinals, Indians and Cubs. Signed by the White Sox in 1941, he went to war with the First Army's 49th Combat Engineers, was wounded twice, and nearly lost a leg to infection before penicillin saved it. He returned to baseball in the Brooklyn system, debuted with the Dodgers in 1949 and was taken by the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1950 draft. His best year was 1951, when he went 11-4 and threw the only shutout of his career, a five-hitter at Detroit. He gradually became a reliever, and he finished 38-34 with 15 saves and a 4.29 ERA.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · BaseballCardPedia
Variations & how to tell them apart
Yellow Name (YN) #53
Nineteen Series 1/early-2 cards exist with the player name printed in yellow instead of white, including stars Aaron (#30), Kaline (#70) and McDougald (#20).
- #53 — base card: the lettering is printed in WHITE — the base, more common version. — see the card page
- #53B — Yellow Name: the player name is printed in YELLOW — the scarcer version, roughly 2-2.5x tougher than white per PSA populations. (this page)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 192 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 45 | 42 | 34 | 33 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. Counts cover this variation only; the base version is tracked separately. 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 Morrie Martin in this set: #53
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #8 Eddie Kasko
- #8B Eddie Kasko (Yellow Name)
- #24 Hobie Landrith
- #24B Hobie Landrith (Yellow Name)
- #53 Morrie Martin
- #60 Del Ennis
- #60B Del Ennis (Yellow Name)
- #65 Von McDaniel
- #65B Von McDaniel (Yellow Name)
- #97 Larry Jackson
- #97B Larry Jackson (Yellow Name)
- #106 Dick Schofield
- #114 Irv Noren
- #125 Alvin Dark
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Morrie Martin card?
It is card #53 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 Morrie Martin, St. Louis Cardinals, and this is the Yellow Name lettering variation.
What is the 1958 Topps Morrie Martin yellow variation?
On this version of #53 the player name is printed in yellow instead of white - one of the set's 33 recognized lettering variations. Yellow copies run roughly 2-2.5x scarcer than the white version per PSA population data.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Morrie Martin #53 are there?
PSA has graded 192 copies and SGC 21 as of the 2026-07-09 snapshot (this variation only). 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.