1961 Topps #316 Bobby Gene Smith
About Bobby Gene Smith
The 1961 Phillies lost 107 games, finished last and 46 out, and ran off 23 straight defeats, the longest major league losing streak since 1900. Smith rode most of it on the bench: 79 games but only 47 of them in the outfield, 44 hits in 174 at-bats, two home runs, 18 runs batted in, a .253 average. On October 10 the expansion New York Mets took him out of Philadelphia with the 32nd pick of the draft that stocked their first roster. The card, #316, is a fourth-series Phillie, and with his debut four years behind him.
Bobby Gene Smith was a right-handed outfielder from Hood River, Oregon, who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1952 and reached the majors with them on April 16, 1957, at 22. Three seasons later the Cardinals sent him to Philadelphia, trading him with Bill Smith for Carl Sawatski on December 4, 1959, and 1960 turned into his best year in the big leagues: as the Phillies' semi-regular left fielder he set personal highs with 62 hits, four home runs, 27 runs batted in and a .286 average. Writers often wrote him up as Bobby Gene, since two pitching Bob Smiths were also in the majors in 1958. A 23-game turn with the Angels in 1965 closed him out. Over seven seasons and five clubs he hit .243 in 476 games with 234 hits, 35 doubles, five triples, 13 home runs and 96 runs batted in, working 189 games in left field, 123 in center and 62 in right. He batted over .300 across a ten-year minor league career that ended in 1967, and died in Hood River on November 24, 2015, at 81.
Sources: Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 241 | 1 | 16 | 120 | 68 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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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- #154 Bobby Del Greco
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #316 card?
It is card #316 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bobby Gene Smith of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.