1961 Topps #204 Bob Skinner
About Bob Skinner
Card #204 sits in the third series, a plain mid-set number, and his rookie card dates back to 1955. The stat line behind it is his 1960: .273 with 15 home runs and a career-best 86 RBI over 145 games, for a Pittsburgh club that took its first pennant since 1927. He started 140 games in left, then jammed his thumb on a head-first slide into third in Game One of the World Series, sat out the next five games, and came back for Game Seven to drop a sacrifice bunt into the eighth-inning rally that set up Bill Mazeroski.
Bob Skinner was a 6-foot-4 left-handed hitter who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates out of San Diego Junior College in 1951, then lost two years to the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He debuted in 1954 as a first baseman, spent 1955 back in the minors, and moved to the outfield for good in 1957, when new manager Danny Murtaugh told him he was playing left field until he played his way out of it. He never did. Skinner hit .321 in 1958 and was picked for the All-Star Game in two seasons, starting both of the two games played in 1960. He was the regular left fielder on Pittsburgh's 1960 world champions, hit over .300 three times as a Pirate, and for more than seven years patrolled Forbes Field alongside Roberto Clemente and Bill Virdon. Traded to Cincinnati in 1963 and to St. Louis in 1964, he won a second ring off the Cardinals' bench. Twelve seasons left him at .277 with 1,198 hits and 103 home runs. He later managed the Phillies, coached four organizations including the 1979 champion Pirates, and joined San Diego's Breitbard Hall of Fame in 1976. He died in 2026 at 94.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 285 | 0 | 27 | 150 | 77 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 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: #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
- #230 Don Hoak
- #242 Hal W. Smith
- #250 Buc Hill Aces
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #204 card?
It is card #204 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Skinner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.