1963 Topps #119 Bob Lillis
About Bob Lillis
1963 Topps #119 lands in the second series. The season behind it was the busiest Lillis ever had: 147 games, 125 of them at shortstop, both career highs, anchoring the middle of a second-year Houston club at age 33. The bat did not keep up. He hit .198 with 93 hits, 13 doubles and 19 RBI in 469 at-bats, the worst full-season average of his career. On May 21 he hit the third and last home run he would ever hit, then went more than 1,300 at-bats to the end of his career without another.
Robert Perry Lillis, born June 2, 1930, in Altadena, California, was an All-Southern California shortstop at Pasadena High School and a second-team All-American at USC in 1950 and 1951 before Brooklyn signed him that June. A right-handed hitter and thrower, he spent eight years in the Dodgers farm system, two of them in the Army, blocked by Pee Wee Reese and later by Don Zimmer. He debuted for Los Angeles on August 17, 1958 and hit .391 in 20 games, but Maury Wills arrived in 1959 and owned the position; on May 30, 1961 the Dodgers traded Lillis and Carl Warwick to St. Louis for Daryl Spencer. Houston took him fifth overall in the October 1961 expansion draft, and he gave the Colt .45s almost six seasons at shortstop and around the infield as the club became the Astros in 1965. Over ten years he played 817 games and batted .236 with three home runs, 137 RBI and 549 hits. He scouted and ran player development for Houston, coached from 1973, managed the Astros from August 1982 through 1985 at 276-261, then coached eleven seasons for the San Francisco Giants through 1996 on the staff of former Dodgers teammate Roger Craig. He is a member of the Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 288 | 0 | 22 | 154 | 88 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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.
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Related cards
Team card: #312 Houston Colt .45's
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #24 Bob Bruce
- #45 Bob Aspromonte
- #77 Al Spangler
- #99 Jim Umbricht
- #141 Manny Mota
- #153 Hal Smith
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #189 Dave Giusti
- #204 Don Nottebart
- #208 1963 Rookie Stars
- #230 Pete Runnels
- #262 Ellis Burton
- #277 Dick Farrell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #119 card?
It is card #119 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Lillis of the Houston Colt .45's.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: 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.