1958 Topps #261 Turk Lown
About Turk Lown
Turk Lown is on 1958 Topps #261 with the Chicago Cubs, part of the third series of the 494-card set. The card reports a busy 1957 in relief: a National League-high 67 games, a 5-7 record, a 3.77 ERA, 12 saves and 47 games finished, also tops in the league. The right-hander had led the league in games finished the year before as well.
Omar Joseph "Turk" Lown was a right-handed pitcher from Brooklyn, New York, who spent parts of 11 major league seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox between 1951 and 1962. He was called Turk as a child for his fondness for eating turkey. The Brooklyn Dodgers signed him in 1942, but World War II interrupted his climb: he served three years as an Army infantryman, was wounded by shrapnel in the Battle of the Bulge and received the Purple Heart. The Cubs drafted him out of the Dodgers system in November 1950, and after failing as a starter he was moved to the bullpen for good in 1953. Chicago traded him to Cincinnati in May 1958 and the Reds sold him to the White Sox that June, pairing him with Gerry Staley in Al Lopez's bullpen. In 1959 Lown went 9-2 with a league-leading 15 saves and a 2.89 ERA as the pair drove Chicago to its first pennant in 40 years, and he allowed no runs in three appearances of a World Series the White Sox lost to the Dodgers in six games. He finished 55-61 with 73 saves and a 4.12 ERA in 504 games, then carried mail in Pueblo, Colorado, for 23 years before his death in 2016.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 232 | 0 | 4 | 68 | 82 | 38 | 23 | 17 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Turk Lown card?
It is card #261 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 Turk Lown, Chicago Cubs.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Turk Lown #261 are there?
PSA has graded 232 copies and SGC 16 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.