1960 Topps #171 Johnny Groth
About Johnny Groth
Johnny Groth's 1960 Topps card, #171, catches him in his final big-league season, back with Detroit after arriving as the game's most hyped outfield prospect. Signed by the Tigers in 1946 after a stint on Bob Feller's Great Lakes Naval team, Groth tore up the International League with Buffalo in 1948, hitting .340 with a league-best 199 hits and 124 runs to earn IL Rookie of the Year. Life and The Sporting News billed him the next Joe DiMaggio heading into 1949, when he became Detroit's regular center fielder and hit .293 with 73 RBI. He set career highs in 1950, batting .306 with 12 homers, 85 RBI and 173 hits, but never matched that peak again; Bill James later dubbed him the 1950s' "flameout." Traded to the Browns in December 1952, Groth also played for the White Sox, Senators and Athletics before returning to Detroit from 1957 to 1960. He closed a 15-year career batting .279 with 60 homers and a sharp .987 fielding percentage, then scouted for the Braves and Cardinals through 1990.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 451 | 0 | 10 | 191 | 170 | 42 | 24 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-08-20. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. The Venezuelan issue, the 1960 Topps Tattoos and Bazooka are separate products and are not counted here.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1960 Topps #171 card?
It is card #171 of the 572-card 1960 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Groth.
What is the 1960 Topps Venezuelan version?
Topps licensed a parallel printing for the Venezuelan market covering roughly the first 196 cards. It is a separate issue on thinner stock with Spanish text on the back, collected on its own and not part of finishing this 572-card set.
How many cards are in the 1960 Topps Baseball set?
572 cards, numbered 1-572, issued in seven series - the last Topps flagship printed entirely horizontally. Cards #375-440 exist on two back stocks, white and gray, which collectors chasing every printed variety count as 638 pieces of cardboard in all.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Cardboard Connection, the PSA price guide, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-08-20.