1958 Topps #57 Tim Thompson
About Tim Thompson
Thompson came to Detroit in a 12-player trade the previous November, but the Tigers gave him only four games behind the plate, and he collected one hit in six at-bats. His last major-league appearance came in April, after which Toronto of the Triple-A International League acquired him. His Topps #57 shows him as a Tiger and sits in Series One, the opening block of the set. Two versions exist: the common white name lettering and a yellow name variation.
Charles Lemoine "Tim" Thompson was a left-handed-hitting catcher from Coalport, Pennsylvania. During World War II he served in the Navy at Moffett Field in California, where he learned to fly the blimps that escorted convoys and watched for submarines, and after his discharge he worked a night shift at a Lewistown yarn plant while playing ball by day. A scout named Bill Killefer watched him play shortstop, pitch and catch in a single exhibition, and Thompson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946. Stuck behind Roy Campanella in the Dodgers system, he spent seven seasons in the minors before reaching Brooklyn at age 30 in 1954. His best big-league years came with the Kansas City Athletics, where he caught 68 games in 1956 and hit .272, then hit seven home runs in 1957. He finished with 123 hits and eight home runs in 187 major-league games, then played on in Triple-A with the Toronto Maple Leafs until 1962 and managed them briefly in 1961. He later coached for the Cardinals and scouted for three clubs.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · BaseballCardPedia
Variations & how to tell them apart
Yellow Name (YN) #57
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).
- #57 — base card: the lettering is printed in WHITE — the base, more common version. (this page)
- #57B — Yellow Name: the player name is printed in YELLOW — the scarcer version, roughly 2-2.5x tougher than white per PSA populations. — see the card page
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 278 | 0 | 8 | 82 | 110 | 41 | 18 | 19 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 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 Tim Thompson in this set: #57B Yellow Name
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #13 Billy Hoeft
- #13B Billy Hoeft (Yellow Name)
- #32 J.W. Porter
- #32B J.W. Porter (Yellow Name)
- #46 Lou Sleater
- #46B Lou Sleater (Yellow Name)
- #57B Tim Thompson (Yellow Name)
- #70 Al Kaline
- #70B Al Kaline (Yellow Name)
- #81 Steve Boros
- #81B Steve Boros (Yellow Team)
- #95 Frank Bolling
- #112 Gus Zernial
- #115 Jim Bunning
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Tim Thompson card?
It is card #57 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 Tim Thompson, Detroit Tigers.
Does the 1958 Topps Tim Thompson #57 have a yellow variation?
Yes - #57 is one of the 33 cards that also exist with yellow lettering. This page covers the common white-letter version; the yellow version runs roughly 2-2.5x scarcer per PSA population data.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Tim Thompson #57 are there?
PSA has graded 278 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.