1961 Topps #31 Bob Schmidt
About Bob Schmidt
Card #31, from the first series, shows Schmidt in a San Francisco uniform, and it is the last Topps card to picture him as a Giant. He had already played his final games for them, two appearances that April, before San Francisco sent him to Cincinnati on April 27, 1961, packaged with Don Blasingame and a player to be named later in exchange for catcher Ed Bailey. The Reds got what they wanted in Bailey; Schmidt got a bench seat. He backed up regular catcher Jerry Zimmerman, hit .129 in 27 games, spent part of the year at Triple-A, and was left off the roster when Cincinnati won the pennant and lost the World Series to the Yankees.
Bob Schmidt was a right-handed catcher from St. Louis who signed with the New York Giants organization in 1951 and climbed the farm system the slow way, losing the 1953 and 1954 seasons to military service before taking all-star honors behind the plate in the Double-A Texas League in 1956 and the Triple-A American Association in 1957. He debuted with the San Francisco Giants on April 16, 1958, and gave that rookie year three things worth keeping: 14 home runs, a National League All-Star selection, and a major league record 22 putouts by a catcher in a 14-inning game on June 22. Two months later, on August 31, he drove in six runs against Sandy Koufax, starting with a first-inning grand slam. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, he was carried for his glove as the bat cooled, leading American League catchers in fielding percentage in 1962 and finishing with a .988 career mark. Over seven seasons with the Giants, Reds, Senators and Yankees he played 454 games and batted .243 with 317 hits, 39 home runs and 150 RBI. He died in 2015 at 82.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 496 | 11 | 73 | 256 | 102 | 29 | 13 | 12 | 0 |
| SGC | 24 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
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
Team card: #167 San Francisco Giants Team
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- #55 Jim Davenport
- #72 Stu Miller
- #87 Joe Amalfitano
- #96 Billy O'Dell
- #114 Hobie Landrith
- #150 Willie Mays
- #161 Sherman Jones
- #188 Jim Marshall
- #203 Eddie Bressoud
- #220 Al Dark
- #237 Billy Loes
- #258 Jack Sanford
- #279 Jose Pagan
- #294 Don Blasingame
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #31 card?
It is card #31 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Schmidt of the San Francisco Giants.
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.