1962 Topps #557 Bob Anderson
About Bob Anderson
Anderson worked almost entirely out of the Chicago bullpen in 1962, making 57 appearances but only four starts, and none of those came until Charlie Metro took over from Lou Klein as head coach under the Cubs' rotating-coach setup. On June 8 he went nine innings and struck out 11 as Chicago beat the Mets 5-4 in ten; he beat them again in a later start before sliding back into relief, and he finished 2-7 with four saves and a 5.02 ERA. His 1962 Topps card is #557, a short-printed seventh-series high number and the hardest of his three sixties Topps cards to run down.
Robert Carl Anderson (1935-2015) was a 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher, born in East Chicago, Indiana and raised in Hammond, where the Hammond High School fireballer picked up the nickname the Hammond Hummer. He signed with the Chicago Cubs in July 1954 for $4,000, was the Pacific Coast League's Rookie of the Year in 1956 after a league-record 70 relief appearances for the champion Los Angeles Angels, and debuted for the Cubs on July 31, 1957. Handed the rotation in 1959, he started on Opening Day in both 1959 and 1960 and threw his only big-league shutout, a six-hit 3-0 win over Milwaukee, on August 24, 1959. He was also the Cubs pitcher in the June 30, 1959 game at Wrigley Field in which two baseballs wound up in play against the Cardinals. Shoulder trouble moved him to the bullpen in 1961, and Chicago traded him to Detroit in February 1963. He finished 36-46 with a 4.26 ERA and 502 strikeouts in 246 games, went to Kansas City that November in the Rocky Colavito trade, and spent 1964 in the minors before leaving the game.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 283 | 0 | 19 | 119 | 98 | 34 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 40 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. Slabs of the three cards printed #139 are joined by description, never by number alone. PSA registers the green tints as a separate set; a tint's population is listed under that state of the card it belongs to.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #557 card?
It is card #557 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Anderson of the Chicago Cubs.
Why is #557 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-598) from the seventh print series, distributed last and in the smallest quantity - the toughest cards in the set and home to all 42 short prints and the Rookie Parade. It is also a short print card (42 cards, all in 523-598). Printed in smaller quantity than the rest of the seventh series.
How many cards are in the 1962 Topps Baseball set?
600 cards, tracked as 708 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps, but three different cards were printed #139 - two Hal Reniff poses, catalogued 139a and 139b, and the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, 139c - so 598 numbers make 600 cards; 93 cards carry catalogued print variations, the series-2 green tints among them, that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Baseball Almanac, Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-03.