1977 Topps #52 Ellis Valentine
About Ellis Valentine
The first home run in Olympic Stadium history was Valentine's, on April 15, 1977, in a 7-2 Expos loss to Steve Carlton and the Phillies before 57,592 fans. At the All-Star break he was batting .315 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. He was the only Expo at the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, going 0-for-1 with a walk. He finished with a .293 average, 25 home runs and 76 RBIs. His #52 card that year carries the Expos.
Ellis Valentine played right field for the Montreal Expos before moving to the Mets, Angels and Rangers. He was the first professional athlete signed out of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, taken by the Expos in the second round of the 1972 draft, and he reached Montreal in September 1975. On May 30, 1980, a pitch from the Cardinals' Roy Thomas cracked his cheekbone in six places; he returned on July 10 with part of a football face mask on his helmet. On May 29, 1981, the Expos dealt him to the Mets for Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman. He later played for the Angels in 1983 and the Rangers in 1985, with a bruised heel keeping him out of the majors all of 1984. He hit .278 with 123 home runs in 894 games. He fought drug and alcohol addiction through his career, entered rehab in Phoenix in September 1986, and became a counselor; in 2014 he founded the nonprofit RAFT Recovery.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 106 | 13 | 58 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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: #647 Montreal Expos Team
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- #112 Bill Greif
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- #156 Pete Mackanin
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- #199 Pepe Frias
- #223 Earl Williams
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- #252 Dale Murray
- #274 Don Stanhouse
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- #316 Steve Rogers
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1977 Topps #52 card?
It is card #52 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ellis Valentine of the Montreal Expos.
How many cards are in the 1977 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and distributed as a single series. No card carries a catalogued print variation, so the base set and the master set are the same 660 cards.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, 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.