1958 Topps #470 R.C. Stevens
About R.C. Stevens
1958 Topps #470 is R.C. Stevens's rookie card, issued in the sixth series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He opened 1957 with the Hollywood club in the minors, then reached the majors in 1958 as a 6-foot-5 first baseman who batted right and threw left. That year he hit .267 with 7 home runs and 18 RBI in 59 games. The card sits in the same series as the Sport Magazine All-Star Selection subset.
R C Stevens had no first name, just the initials, and a boyhood nickname, Seaboat, for his size. Born July 22, 1934 in Moultrie, Georgia, he grew to 6-foot-5 and became one of the few position players who batted right-handed and threw left-handed; he had started out batting left-handed with a cross-handed grip and switched sides of the plate instead. Branch Rickey's Pirates were recruiting at black high schools across the South, and Stevens's high school coach steered him to the tryout that got him signed before the 1952 season. He debuted on Opening Day 1958 and won two early games with his bat, but never held a big-league job: parts of four seasons, three with Pittsburgh (1958-1960) and one with the expansion Washington Senators (1961), produced a .210 average, 34 hits, 8 home runs and 21 RBI in 104 games at first base. The minors suited him better - 191 home runs over 12 seasons, including a Pacific Coast League-leading 37 for Salt Lake City in 1960. He was with the 1960 world champion Pirates in September but not on their World Series roster. An inaugural Colquitt County (Georgia) Sports Hall of Fame inductee in 2000, Stevens died November 30, 2010 in Davenport, Iowa, at 76.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 372 | 0 | 6 | 124 | 149 | 61 | 19 | 13 | 0 |
| SGC | 24 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
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 R.C. Stevens card?
It is card #470 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 R.C. Stevens, Pittsburgh Pirates.
Is the 1958 Topps R.C. Stevens #470 a rookie card?
Yes - #470 is a rookie card, one of 103 in the 1958 Topps set.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps R.C. Stevens #470 are there?
PSA has graded 372 copies and SGC 24 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.