1958 Topps #49 Smoky Burgess
About Smoky Burgess
Smoky Burgess is card #49 in Series One of the 1958 Topps set, a 494-card issue, and it pictures him with Cincinnati. That season he hit .283 with six home runs and 31 RBI in 99 games and 251 at-bats, matching his 1957 average. He split the catching with Ed Bailey, the better defender, and shared the Redlegs bench with Jerry Lynch, another future pinch-hitting great.
Forrest Harrill "Smoky" Burgess spent 18 major-league seasons (1949-1967) as a catcher and, in his final years, as the game's premier pinch hitter, playing for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. A native of Caroleen, North Carolina, the stocky left-handed hitter was chosen for six All-Star squads, nine selections in all under the era's two-game format, and he hit .368 for the 1954 Phillies. Traded to Pittsburgh in January 1959, he won a World Series ring in 1960, batting .333 as the Pirates upset the Yankees, and he led National League catchers in fielding percentage three times, in 1953, 1960 and 1961. Claimed on waivers by the White Sox in September 1964, Burgess was used almost exclusively off the bench over his last three seasons and retired as the career leader in pinch hits, a mark that stood until Manny Mota passed him in 1979. He finished at .295 with 126 home runs and 673 RBI, and is enshrined in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Accounts of his nickname vary, crediting the nearby Smoky Mountains, his father's nickname, his lack of speed, or the fact that he never smoked.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 237 | 0 | 3 | 73 | 94 | 37 | 14 | 15 | 1 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 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 Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #12 George Crowe
- #27 Bud Freeman
- #34 Bob Thurman
- #63 Joe Nuxhall
- #75 Gus Bell
- #103 Jerry Lynch
- #118 Harvey Haddix
- #126 Stan Palys
- #131 Bob Henrich
- #149 Tom Acker
- #157 Dee Fondy
- #160 Don Hoak
- #205 Johnny Temple
- #214 Willard Schmidt
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Smoky Burgess card?
It is card #49 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 Smoky Burgess, Cincinnati Reds.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Smoky Burgess #49 are there?
PSA has graded 237 copies and SGC 23 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.