1966 Topps #542 George Smith
About George Smith
Card 542, a high number in the 1966 Topps set, pictures Smith with the Boston Red Sox, the club that had acquired him for the 1966 season after three years in Detroit's infield. He became Boston's semi-regular second baseman that year, starting 101 games at the position, and batted .213 with 8 home runs, matching his career high, over 128 games.
George Cornelius Smith was a right-handed-hitting second baseman born July 7, 1937, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a Michigan State University product who began his path to pro ball in the Negro Leagues, playing for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952 and the Chicago American Giants in 1956 and 1957 before a brief stop in the Class D Florida State League with the St. Petersburg Saints in 1955. He signed with the Detroit Tigers organization as a free agent in 1958 and made his major league debut on August 4, 1963. Smith played second base for Detroit from 1963 through 1965 before Boston acquired him for the 1966 season, in which he became the Red Sox's semi-regular second baseman, starting 101 games at the position. In four big-league seasons he hit .205 with 9 home runs and 57 RBIs over 217 games. Injuries limited him in 1967, and the Boston organization sent him to the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A Phoenix affiliate, where his playing career ended in 1968. He died June 15, 1987, in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 373 | 5 | 39 | 175 | 92 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 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. 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
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #542 card?
It is card #542 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Smith of the Boston Red Sox.
Why is #542 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.