1964 Topps #20 Bob Friend
About Bob Friend
The 1964 pair reports the best pitching of Friend's career. In 1963 he went 17-16 with a 2.34 ERA, a career low, walking just 44 men in 268.2 innings over 38 starts. Card #1 opens the set as the National League ERA leaders card, his 2.34 finishing behind Sandy Koufax, whose 1.88 led the league, and Dick Ellsworth. His base card #20 follows in the same first series.
Robert Bartmess Friend was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and grew up in West Lafayette, an all-state pitcher and all-state football halfback in high school. The nickname came out of the football: he was a good tailback, and once he began piling up innings in the majors, "Warrior" stuck. He signed with Pittsburgh in 1950 and spent 15 of his 16 big-league seasons there, closing out with the Yankees and Mets in 1966. Friend led the National League with a 2.83 ERA in 1955, the first pitcher to win an ERA title for a last-place club, and tied Warren Spahn for the league lead with 22 wins in 1958, finishing third in the Cy Young voting. A four-time All-Star (1956, 1958 and both 1960 games), he won the 1956 All-Star Game. Durability was the trademark: 200-plus innings in eleven straight seasons, three years leading the league in games started, and not one day on the disabled list. He finished 197-230 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,734 strikeouts, the only pitcher to lose more than 200 games without winning 200, and he still holds the Pirates' career records for innings pitched and strikeouts. He was Allegheny County controller from 1967 to 1975 and was elected to the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 270 | 0 | 11 | 116 | 75 | 45 | 14 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More Bob Friend in this set: #1 League Leaders
Team card: #373 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #37 Smoky Burgess
- #62 Ted Savage
- #74 Pirates 1964 Rookie Stars
- #91 Bob Bailey
- #117 Earl Francis
- #141 Danny Murtaugh
- #163 Donn Clendenon
- #193 Jerry Lynch
- #209 Bob Allen
- #224 Tommie Sisk
- #246 Manny Mota
- #266 Gene Freese
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #20 card?
It is card #20 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Friend of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, Baseball Almanac, 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 2026-10-11.