1961 Topps #585 Bob Friend
About this card
Cards #566-586 and #589 are the 22 Sporting News All-Stars, printed in the scarce seventh series - the toughest run in the set.
About Bob Friend
Friend's three 1961 Topps cards follow the 1960 comeback that made him UPI's Comeback Player of the Year: 18-12 with a 3.00 ERA and a career-high 183 strikeouts for the pennant-winning Pirates. Card #45 is the National League ERA leaders card for 1960, setting his 3.00 alongside Mike McCormick, Ernie Broglio, Don Drysdale and Stan Williams; McCormick's 2.70 topped the league. His base card #270 is a third-series issue. Card #585, a seventh-series high number, puts him in the Sporting News All-Star subset.
Robert Bartmess Friend was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and grew up in West Lafayette, an all-state pitcher and all-state football halfback in high school. The nickname came out of the football: he was a good tailback, and once he began piling up innings in the majors, "Warrior" stuck. He signed with Pittsburgh in 1950 and spent 15 of his 16 big-league seasons there, closing out with the Yankees and Mets in 1966. Friend led the National League with a 2.83 ERA in 1955, the first pitcher to win an ERA title for a last-place club, and tied Warren Spahn for the league lead with 22 wins in 1958, finishing third in the Cy Young voting. A four-time All-Star (1956, 1958 and both 1960 games), he won the 1956 All-Star Game. Durability was the trademark: 200-plus innings in eleven straight seasons, three years leading the league in games started, and not one day on the disabled list. He finished 197-230 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,734 strikeouts, the only pitcher to lose more than 200 games without winning 200, and he still holds the Pirates' career records for innings pitched and strikeouts. He was Allegheny County controller from 1967 to 1975 and was elected to the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 551 | 2 | 39 | 210 | 153 | 82 | 41 | 24 | 0 |
| SGC | 53 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. PSA counts are straight grades only; PSA half grades (PSA 1.5 among them) and qualified slabs are not included. SGC half grades fold down (8.5→8). Slabs of the two cards printed #463 are joined by description, never by number alone.
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Related cards
More Bob Friend in this set: #45 League Leaders, #270
Team card: #554 Pittsburgh Pirates Team
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #1 Dick Groat
- #22 Clem Labine
- #54 Earl Francis
- #70 Bill Virdon
- #82 Joe Christopher
- #100 Harvey Haddix
- #126 Dick Stuart
- #138 Danny Murtaugh
- #149 Bob Oldis
- #165 Gino Cimoli
- #181 Fred Green
- #204 Bob Skinner
- #230 Don Hoak
- #242 Hal W. Smith
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #585 card?
It is card #585 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Friend of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cards #566-586 and #589 are the 22 Sporting News All-Stars, printed in the scarce seventh series - the toughest run in the set.
Why is #585 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-589) from the seventh and last print series - the scarce end of the set, including the 22 Sporting News All-Stars.
How many cards are in the 1961 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 596 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 589, but #426, #587 and #588 were never issued and two different cards were printed #463 - Jack Fisher and the Milwaukee Braves Team card, catalogued 463b - and eight cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-05.