1958 Topps #425 Sammy Esposito
About Sammy Esposito
Sammy Esposito appears on #425 in the fifth series of 1958 Topps, pictured with the Chicago White Sox. The card looks back at 1957, when the local Chicago infielder played 94 games, mostly at third base with some shortstop, and hit .205 in 176 at-bats. It was the last year he reached 100 at-bats in a season, and the White Sox pennant of 1959 was still two seasons off.
Sammy Esposito was a utility infielder who spent parts of ten major league seasons (1952, 1955-1963) with the Chicago White Sox and, at the very end, the Kansas City Athletics. A three-sport star at Chicago's Fenger High School, he signed with the White Sox in August 1952 and debuted that September as the youngest player in the majors, then spent 1953 in the minors before an Army hitch kept him away until 1955. Third base was his main post, with regular work at shortstop and second, and he spent his prime as the reserve behind Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox, valued for his glove and his patience far more than his bat: .207 with 8 home runs and 73 RBI in 560 games, but a .330 on-base percentage. His signature year was 1959, when the White Sox won the American League pennant and he appeared in two games of the World Series the Dodgers took in six. He then coached North Carolina State for 21 seasons (1967-1987), going 513-253-4 with ACC titles in 1968, 1973, 1974 and 1975, and was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 338 | 0 | 8 | 121 | 112 | 48 | 31 | 18 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 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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Related cards
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #11 Jim Rivera
- #11B Jim Rivera (Yellow Team)
- #26 Ron H. Jackson
- #50 Billy Pierce
- #50B Billy Pierce (Yellow Team)
- #56 Bill Fischer
- #85 Luis Aparicio
- #85B Luis Aparicio (Yellow Team)
- #100 Early Wynn
- #100B Early Wynn (Yellow Team)
- #108 Jim Landis
- #108B Jim Landis (Yellow Team)
- #129 Jim Derrington
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Sammy Esposito card?
It is card #425 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 Sammy Esposito, Chicago White Sox.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Sammy Esposito #425 are there?
PSA has graded 338 copies and SGC 21 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.