1971 Topps #208 Billy Martin
About this card
Every club has its own manager card this year, separate from its team card, and every one pictures the manager alone. Nine of the 24 managers are Hall of Famers: Bob Lemon (#91), Gil Hodges (#183), Red Schoendienst (#239), Ted Williams (#380), Earl Weaver (#477), Walt Alston (#567), Leo Durocher (#609), Sparky Anderson (#688) and Dick Williams (#714).
About Billy Martin
Billy Martin's first year in the Detroit dugout ended 91-71, good for second place in the American League East in 1971. The Tigers had hired him in October 1970 to replace Mayo Smith. He appears on card #208 as the Tigers manager, in the second series.
Billy Martin broke in with the New York Yankees on April 18, 1950 and became Casey Stengel's second baseman on four world championship clubs, batting .333 across five World Series. He was the hitting star of the 1953 Series, tying a record with 12 hits and breaking Babe Ruth's mark with 23 total bases. The Babe Ruth Award went to him as the best player in the Series; the World Series MVP trophy was not created until 1955. Army service cost him 1954 and most of 1955, and his lone All-Star selection came in 1956. A brawl at the Copacabana nightclub in May 1957 gave general manager George Weiss his opening, and Martin was traded to Kansas City that June. He then played for Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Minnesota before retiring with a .257 average and 64 home runs over 11 seasons. He scouted and coached for the Twins, then managed Minnesota, Detroit, Texas, Oakland and, in five separate stints, the Yankees, winning the 1977 World Series. George Steinbrenner fired him after the 1979 season and again after each of his last three Yankees stints; Martin died in an automobile accident in upstate New York on Christmas night 1989.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 634 | 0 | 18 | 231 | 254 | 59 | 33 | 39 | 0 |
| SGC | 79 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 27 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 2 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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: #336 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #3 Dick McAuliffe
- #39 Tigers 1971 Rookie Stars
- #71 1970 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #86 Mike Kilkenny
- #101 Les Cain
- #120 Willie Horton
- #133 Mickey Lolich
- #154 Cesar Gutierrez
- #180 Al Kaline
- #229 Jim Hannan
- #265 Jim Northrup
- #296 Tom Timmermann
- #316 Fred Scherman
- #367 Dalton Jones
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #208 card?
It is card #208 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Billy Martin of the Detroit Tigers. Every club has its own manager card this year, separate from its team card, and every one pictures the manager alone. Nine of the 24 managers are Hall of Famers: Bob Lemon (#91), Gil Hodges (#183), Red Schoendienst (#239), Ted Williams (#380), Earl Weaver (#477), Walt Alston (#567), Leo Durocher (#609), Sparky Anderson (#688) and Dick Williams (#714).
How many cards are in the 1971 Topps Baseball set?
752 cards, tracked as 761 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 752 with none skipped, issued in six print series (132/131/130/130/120/109 cards), the sixth (#644-752) the high numbers; seven cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - the #42, #265 and #306 photo pairs and the #123, #206, #369 and #619 checklists, #369 and #619 in three printings each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA (its price guide, master set registry and set article), BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-25.