1978 Topps #559 Phil Mankowski
About Phil Mankowski
On April 7, 1978, Mankowski hit a three-run home run that gave Mark Fidrych a win in a five-hitter over Toronto. He hit .275 with four home runs and 20 RBI. Of his 88 games, 80 came at third base. His card #559 pictures him with the Tigers.
Phil Mankowski was a left-handed-hitting third baseman who played six major league seasons, four with the Detroit Tigers and two brief ones with the New York Mets. A Buffalo native, he came from a baseball family: his father Ben played in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system in the early 1940s and his brother Paul was in the Twins system from 1965 to 1969. Detroit drafted him in the ninth round in 1970, at age 17, after four years of varsity ball at Bishop Turner High School. With Aurelio Rodriguez at third base in Detroit, he spent six years in the minors before his 1976 debut. He appeared in 21 games for the Mets in 1980 and 1982 and finished at .264 with 8 home runs in 269 games. He played Hank Benz in the 1984 film The Natural, and began studying classical piano during his 1982 stint with the Mets.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 81 | 10 | 39 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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: #404 Detroit Tigers Team
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #21 Steve Kemp
- #45 Mark Fidrych
- #68 Steve Foucault
- #94 Chuck Scrivener
- #124 Dave Rozema
- #151 Milt Wilcox
- #176 Milt May
- #232 Mickey Stanley
- #258 John Hiller
- #286 Ben Oglivie
- #342 Aurelio Rodriguez
- #370 Rusty Staub
- #385 Tito Fuentes
- #456 Vern Ruhle
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1978 Topps #559 card?
It is card #559 of the 726-card 1978 Topps Baseball set, picturing Phil Mankowski of the Detroit Tigers.
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.