1969 Topps #505 Bobby Bolin
About Bobby Bolin
Two 1969 cards carry his 1968. Card #8, 'National League 1968 ERA Leaders,' is a first-series League Leaders card and the only one of his cards in these nine sets that he shares with anybody: it places his 1.99 between Bob Gibson's 1.12 and Bob Veale's 2.05. His own card, #505, comes from the fifth series in two states, 'Bolin' in yellow letters being the common one and the white-letter version the scarce and pricier side, one of 23 name-color variations Topps let loose between #440 and #511. Behind them sits a 10-5 season over 176 2/3 innings, capped by a 3-2 win over Gibson at Busch Stadium on September 6.
Bob Bolin grew up on the family farm near Smyrna, South Carolina, pulled for the Dodgers as a boy, and threw four straight no-hitters as a high school senior. A Pittsburgh contract pressed on him by Branch Rickey was voided by the commissioner, and Giants scout Tim Murchison won him over by listing the young arms already stacked up on the Dodger staff. Bolin signed with the New York Giants in November 1956 at seventeen. The 6-foot-4 right-hander threw two more no-hitters in the minors, in 1957 and 1959, and Eugene manager Roy Partee's switch to a sidearm delivery tightened his control before he reached the majors on April 18, 1961. He spent 1961 through 1969 with San Francisco, swinging between rotation and bullpen, and worked two games of the 1962 World Series. His best year was 1968, when he went 10-5 with a 1.99 ERA, second in the National League behind only Bob Gibson's 1.12. Traded to the Seattle Pilots in December 1969, he pitched for the club once it became the Milwaukee Brewers, then finished in Boston from 1970 to 1973 with a career-high 15 saves in his last season. He retired 88-75 with a 3.40 ERA and 1,175 strikeouts in 495 games, was later named to the Giants' Wall of Fame, and died in 2023 at 84.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3)
Print variations
Two states of #505 are tracked individually: 505a - Last Name In Yellow and 505b - Last Name In White. The difference is on the front of the card (name color).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry and the Trading Card Database; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 505a - Last Name In Yellow | |||||||||
| PSA | 199 | 1 | 29 | 109 | 37 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 505b - Last Name In White | |||||||||
| PSA | 183 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 46 | 43 | 35 | 42 | 1 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 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 a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation.
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Related cards
More Bobby Bolin in this set: #8 League Leaders
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #4 National League 1968 RBI Leaders
- #6 National League 1968 Home Run Leaders
- #8 National League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #10 National League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #16 Giants 1969 Rookie Stars
- #41 Bob Barton
- #64 Bill Monbouquette
- #102 Jim Davenport
- #125 Ray Sadecki
- #158 Joe Gibbon
- #190 Willie Mays
- #204 Jack Hiatt
- #227 Frank Johnson
- #251 Ron Herbel
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #505 card?
It is card #505 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bobby Bolin of the San Francisco Giants.
Does 1969 Topps #505 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 505a - Last Name In Yellow ("Bolin" prints in yellow letters on the front - the common state of this fifth-series card) and 505b - Last Name In White ("Bolin" prints in white letters - the scarce state of the pair; white letters are the premium side on all 23 of the set's name-color variations (#440-511)). Owning any one of them fills the #505 slot; the master set counts each state.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
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 2026-10-12.