1964 Topps #321 Bob Lillis
About Bob Lillis
1964 Topps #321 sits in the fourth series. It carries the Houston Colt .45s name in its last year: the franchise became the Astros and opened the Astrodome in 1965. Lillis's job had shifted by then. He played more second base than shortstop in 1964, 52 games to 43, with 12 more at third, and the writers who had tabbed him as future managerial material kept doing so. His bat was at its best over a full season that year, a .268 average with 89 hits and 11 doubles in 109 games, and he struck out just ten times.
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 · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 267 | 5 | 44 | 137 | 59 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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 Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #23 Chris Zachary
- #38 Jim Wynn
- #56 Hal Brown
- #109 Rusty Staub
- #121 Pete Runnels
- #142 John Bateman
- #158 Ken Johnson
- #179 Carl Warwick
- #205 Nellie Fox
- #226 Colts 1964 Rookie Stars
- #241 Jim Owens
- #256 Johnny Weekly
- #282 Bob Bruce
- #298 Harry Craft
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #321 card?
It is card #321 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Lillis of the Houston Colt .45's.
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.