1964 Topps #437 Ed Bailey
About Ed Bailey
A December 3, 1963 trade moved Bailey to Milwaukee: the Giants sent him, Felipe Alou, Billy Hoeft and a player to be named later to the Braves for Del Crandall, Bob Shaw and Bob Hendley, seven players in all. In Milwaukee he split the catching with 23-year-old Joe Torre, starting 74 games behind the plate and batting .262, but the power vanished, five home runs all season after 21 the year before. Number 437 comes from the fifth series. It is also his only Topps card in a Braves uniform, since Milwaukee kept him for just the one year.
Lonas Edgar Bailey Jr., born April 15, 1931, in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, was a left-handed-hitting, right-handed-throwing catcher who gave up a University of Tennessee basketball scholarship to sign with Cincinnati. Two years of Army ball and a September 1953 debut later, he won the starting job in 1956 and turned in his career year: .300 with 28 home runs, 75 RBI and the league lead in baserunners caught stealing. He stayed Cincinnati's regular catcher until an April 1961 trade sent him to the San Francisco Giants, and he later caught for the Milwaukee Braves, the Giants again and the Chicago Cubs before the California Angels released him in May 1966. He made the National League All-Star squad in five seasons, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1963, and in the stretch when each summer held two All-Star Games he played in six of them. In 1957 he led National League catchers by throwing out 46 percent of base stealers. Across fourteen seasons he batted .256 with 155 home runs and 540 RBI. Teammates called him 'Gar,' short for Edgar, though teammate Jim Brosnan suspected it stood for garrulous. He went home to Knoxville after baseball and served twelve years on the city council.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 161 | 1 | 17 | 75 | 36 | 19 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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
Team card: #132 Milwaukee Braves
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #9 1963 National League Home Run Leaders
- #11 1963 National League R.B.I. Leaders
- #35 Ed Mathews
- #53 Denis Menke
- #65 Felipe Alou
- #70 Joe Torre
- #94 Braves 1964 Rookie Stars
- #115 Frank Bolling
- #152 Denver Lemaster
- #171 Ty Cline
- #198 Len Gabrielson
- #218 Hank Fischer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #437 card?
It is card #437 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Bailey of the Milwaukee Braves.
Why is #437 harder to find?
It is a series 5-6 card. Cards from the fifth and sixth print series (#371-522) are a step tougher to find than #1-370; availability in 1964 runs in three tiers, not a cliff.
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.