1971 Topps #56 Duane Josephson
About Duane Josephson
Josephson hit .316 for the 1970 White Sox, his best year at the plate, and led the team. Boston then acquired him, and he caught 87 games for the Red Sox in 1971, hitting .245 with 10 home runs. On May 21 in Baltimore he homered twice and drove in four. Card #56 is a first-series issue still showing the White Sox.
Duane Josephson was a right-handed catcher from New Hampton, Iowa, who played for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox across eight big-league seasons from 1965 to 1972. He attended the State College of Iowa (now Northern Iowa) on a scholarship for baseball, basketball and football, signed with the White Sox in 1964 and worked his way up through Clinton, Lynchburg and Indianapolis. He won Pacific Coast League MVP honors in 1966, hitting .324 and drawing praise for his catching. His best big-league season came in 1968, when he set career highs in games, hits and RBI and was picked for the All-Star Game. The White Sox traded him to Boston in 1971, where he took over as starting catcher and had his best power year. A case of pericarditis, an inflammation around the heart, forced his retirement at age 30 after the 1972 season. He finished with a .258 average, 23 home runs and 164 RBI in 470 games, then returned home to New Hampton, where he died in 1997 at age 54.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 281 | 0 | 4 | 135 | 113 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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.
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Related cards
Team card: #289 Chicago White Sox
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- #80 Bill Melton
- #113 Jerry Crider
- #156 Bart Johnson
- #169 Ed Herrmann
- #186 Bob Spence
- #227 Floyd Weaver
- #243 Carlos May
- #267 Rich Morales
- #292 Jay Johnstone
- #311 Lee Stange
- #345 Joe Horlen
- #373 Tom McCraw
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #56 card?
It is card #56 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Duane Josephson of the Chicago White Sox.
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.