1971 Topps #42 Boots Day
About Boots Day
Day's best big league season came in 1971, when he set career highs with 105 hits and four home runs. His 33 RBIs and .283 average were career highs as well. He tied for the league lead with nine assists from center field, shared with Cito Gaston, and was second in fielding percentage at .983. Card #42, from the first series, is printed with the Expos and exists in two printings, one with stadium lights behind his ear.
Boots Day was a left-handed-hitting outfielder who played parts of six seasons, 1969 to 1974, for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos, most of it as the Expos' platoon center fielder. The Cardinals signed him out of Ilion, New York, where his elementary school principal was their regional scout. St. Louis traded him to the Cubs for Rich Nye in December 1969, and Chicago sent him to Montreal for catcher Jack Hiatt in May 1970. He played 471 major league games, 449 of them with the Expos, and hit .256 with eight home runs and 98 RBIs. He played in the minors through 1980 and spent 55 years in professional baseball. His work as a manager, scout and hitting coach included a stint as Cardinals assistant coach under Tony La Russa and, through 2021, bench coach of the Evansville Otters. He is in the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame, the Mohawk Valley Baseball Hall of Fame and the Ilion High School Alumni Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Print variations
Two states of #42 are tracked individually: 42a - No Stadium Light and 42b - Stadium Lights Behind Ear. The difference is on the front of the card (airbrush).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42a - No Stadium Light | |||||||||
| PSA | 122 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 32 | 29 | 29 | 17 | 0 |
| SGC | 28 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| 42b - Stadium Lights Behind Ear | |||||||||
| PSA | 204 | 1 | 11 | 51 | 64 | 38 | 21 | 18 | 0 |
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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 42a - No Stadium Light.
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Related cards
Team card: #674 Montreal Expos
More Montreal Expos cards:
- #21 Dan McGinn
- #59 Gene Mauch
- #94 Don Hahn
- #132 Jose Laboy
- #142 Mack Jones
- #157 Bob Bailey
- #171 Bobby Wine
- #209 Steve Renko
- #232 John Strohmayer
- #266 Bill Stoneman
- #284 Jim Gosger
- #304 Ron Brand
- #315 Ron Fairly
- #376 Expos 1971 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #42 card?
It is card #42 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Boots Day of the Montreal Expos.
Does 1971 Topps #42 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 42a - No Stadium Light (The stadium light behind Boots Day's ear is airbrushed out - the base state here) and 42b - Stadium Lights Behind Ear (A stadium light shows behind Boots Day's ear; the other state has it airbrushed out). Owning any one of them fills the #42 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.