1962 Topps #531 Bobby G. Smith
About Bobby G. Smith
Smith opened 1962 in a Mets uniform and was gone inside two weeks - eight games, three hits - traded to the Cubs for Sammy Taylor on April 26, then moved again on June 5, going to St. Louis with Daryl Robertson for Alex Grammas and Don Landrum. St. Louis is where the card finds him: #531 lists him with the Cardinals, and he got into 91 games for them, batting .231 with only 27 outfield starts, his left-field innings coming mostly as a late-inning stand-in for Stan Musial. Out of the seventh series, the card is a high number.
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
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 234 | 1 | 9 | 95 | 70 | 38 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| SGC | 31 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
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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Related cards
Team card: #61 St. Louis Cardinals Team
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #14 Bill White
- #19 Ray Washburn
- #28 Minnie Minoso
- #50 Stan Musial
- #83 Larry Jackson
- #106 Carl Sawatski
- #118 Julian Javier
- #149 Bob Duliba
- #167 Tim McCarver
- #198 Johnny Keane
- #202 Carl Warwick
- #223 Alex Grammas
- #241 Johnny Kucks
- #266 John Anderson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #531 card?
It is card #531 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bobby G. Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Why is #531 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.
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.