1961 Topps #418 Ed Bailey
About Ed Bailey
Bailey came into 1961 as Cincinnati's regular catcher, the job he had held since 1956, and lasted twelve games before the Reds shipped him to the San Francisco Giants on April 27 for Don Blasingame, Bob Schmidt and a player to be named later. The deal stung twice over: he was hitting .302 in those twelve Cincinnati games, and the club he left behind won the pennant without him while its catchers combined for a .201 average. Number 418 sits in the fifth series, a regular-series card. It is his last Topps card in a Cincinnati uniform.
Lonas Edgar Bailey Jr., born April 15, 1931, in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, was a left-handed-hitting, right-handed-throwing catcher who gave up a University of Tennessee basketball scholarship to sign with Cincinnati. Two years of Army ball and a September 1953 debut later, he won the starting job in 1956 and turned in his career year: .300 with 28 home runs, 75 RBI and the league lead in baserunners caught stealing. He stayed Cincinnati's regular catcher until an April 1961 trade sent him to the San Francisco Giants, and he later caught for the Milwaukee Braves, the Giants again and the Chicago Cubs before the California Angels released him in May 1966. He made the National League All-Star squad in five seasons, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1963, and in the stretch when each summer held two All-Star Games he played in six of them. In 1957 he led National League catchers by throwing out 46 percent of base stealers. Across fourteen seasons he batted .256 with 155 home runs and 540 RBI. Teammates called him 'Gar,' short for Edgar, though teammate Jim Brosnan suspected it stood for garrulous. He went home to Knoxville after baseball and served twelve years on the city council.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 367 | 0 | 44 | 203 | 90 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #418 card?
It is card #418 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.