1966 Topps #538 Bob Allen
About Bob Allen
Allen's 1966 Topps card, #538, falls in the set's seventh series and is a high number. It caught him at the right moment: after two seasons away from the majors, he was back in the Cleveland bullpen. He worked 51 1/3 innings over 36 games, went 2-2 with a 4.21 ERA, finished 23 of those games and saved five. Best of all, his control held - he issued just 13 walks all year, by far the stingiest rate of his five big-league seasons.
Robert Gray Allen was a left-handed relief pitcher who spent his entire five-season major league career with the Cleveland Indians, appearing exclusively out of the bullpen and never making a start in 204 games. Born in Tatum, Texas on October 23, 1937, he signed with Cleveland as an amateur free agent in 1956 and went 16-11 for the Indians' Mobile farm club in 1960. He reached the American League on April 14, 1961, retiring all three batters he faced, and went 3-2 over 81 2/3 innings as a rookie. He pitched for Cleveland again in 1962 and 1963, and that December the Indians traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for players to be named; the Pirates sent him back to Cleveland in April 1964 without his ever pitching a big-league game for them, and he was out of the majors through 1964 and 1965. Allen resurfaced with the Indians in 1966 and 1967, closing with a 7-12 record, a 4.11 ERA, 199 strikeouts and 19 saves. He died in Tatum in December 2023 at the age of 86.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 357 | 3 | 42 | 156 | 90 | 45 | 15 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #303 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #16 Larry Brown
- #44 Indians 1966 Rookie Stars
- #65 Leon Wagner
- #88 Fred Whitfield
- #109 Ralph Terry
- #128 Jim Landis
- #129 Jack Kralick
- #133 Don McMahon
- #150 Rocky Colavito
- #169 Duke Sims
- #197 Sonny Siebert
- #216 American League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #220 American League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #222 American League 1965 ERA Leaders
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #538 card?
It is card #538 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Allen of the Cleveland Indians.
Why is #538 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #523-598 - the scarce end of the set. Forty-three of its 76 cards are short prints, so scarcity is stated for the series as a whole.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, 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.