1978 Topps #20 Pete Rose
About Pete Rose
Rose played all 162 games for the 1977 Reds, hitting .311 with 204 hits, and passed Frankie Frisch for the most hits by a switch-hitter. Topps carried him twice in 1978: #5 in the Record Breakers subset and #20, both with Cincinnati. On May 5, 1978, he singled off Montreal's Steve Rogers at Riverfront Stadium for his 3,000th hit, and on June 14 he began a 44-game hitting streak that ended on August 1.
Peter Edward Rose Sr. (April 14, 1941 - September 30, 2024) grew up in Cincinnati and signed with his hometown Reds out of Western Hills High School in 1960, at the urging of his uncle Buddy Bloebaum, a bird-dog scout for the club. He reached the majors in 1963 and won National League Rookie of the Year, by then already carrying the nickname Charlie Hustle. A switch-hitter who played 24 seasons for the Reds, Phillies and Expos, he came up at second base and later worked in left field, right field, third base and first base, making 17 All-Star teams at an unequaled five different positions. He was the leadoff man and catalyst of the Big Red Machine, taking the 1973 NL MVP award, three batting titles, two Gold Gloves and back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, then a third with the 1980 Phillies. On September 11, 1985, as Reds player-manager, he passed Ty Cobb, and he left the game with 4,256 hits, 3,562 games and 14,053 at-bats, all still records. He managed Cincinnati until August 1989, when a gambling investigation put him on baseball's permanently ineligible list. The Reds Hall of Fame took him in 2016, and Major League Baseball removed him from that list posthumously in May 2025.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · MLB.com · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 7,294 | 157 | 1,759 | 2,917 | 956 | 550 | 477 | 478 | 0 |
| SGC | 1,081 | 2 | 102 | 394 | 264 | 134 | 73 | 102 | 10 |
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
More Pete Rose in this set: #5 Record Breakers
Team card: #526 Cincinnati Reds Team
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #5 Pete Rose
- #47 Jack Billingham
- #80 Ken Griffey
- #106 Bill Plummer
- #126 Paul Moskau
- #149 Dale Murray
- #180 Dave Concepcion
- #202 1977 Home Run Leaders
- #203 1977 RBI Leaders
- #220 Pedro Borbon
- #246 Dan Driessen
- #273 Fred Norman
- #276 Bill Bonham
- #300 Joe Morgan
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1978 Topps #20 card?
It is card #20 of the 726-card 1978 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds.
How many cards are in the 1978 Topps Baseball set?
726 cards, numbered 1 through 726 with none skipped and issued as a single series, and 728 collectible states: #23 Bump Wills comes with or without a black circle, and #374 Jose Morales with or without black stitching over the red laces, so the master set counts both states of each.
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.