1965 Topps #559 Ed Bailey
About Ed Bailey
Milwaukee sent Bailey back to San Francisco on February 1, 1965 for reliever Billy O'Dell, and the reunion barely outlasted the spring. He hit .107 in a bench role before a May 29 trade packaged him with Harvey Kuenn and Bob Hendley to the Chicago Cubs for Dick Bertell and Len Gabrielson. Card 559 is a true high number from the seventh and final series of the 1965 set, inside its short-print zone. The Giants uniform on it records a second San Francisco stay that lasted under four months.
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 | 322 | 2 | 54 | 169 | 58 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
| SGC | 27 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Related cards
Team card: #379 San Francisco Giants
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #4 National League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #6 National League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #10 National League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #32 Herman Franks
- #50 Juan Marichal
- #68 Del Crandall
- #84 Ron Herbel
- #103 Harvey Kuenn
- #118 Hal Lanier
- #159 Jim Duffalo
- #176 Willie McCovey
- #193 Gaylord Perry
- #213 Jim Davenport
- #228 Jack Sanford
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #559 card?
It is card #559 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Bailey of the San Francisco Giants.
Is 1965 Topps #559 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last series, #507-598. Unlike most 1960s Topps sets the 1965 highs are not scarce as a run - the premium sits on the short-printed cards inside #523-598. It is also a short-print zone card. Forty-four of the 76 cards in #523-598 were short-printed; #507-522 was not. The zone is stated as a range because the catalogs disagree on exactly which cards, so no single card is marked.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.