1979 Topps #517 Al Bumbry
About Al Bumbry
Bumbry signed a three-year, $365,000 deal on January 30, 1979. He then played 148 games, batting .285 with 37 steals. He started in center field in the ALCS against California, where he dropped a Bobby Grich fly in Game 3, and hit 3-for-21 in the seven-game World Series loss to Pittsburgh. His 1979 Topps card is #517, with the Orioles.
Al Bumbry was a left-handed-hitting Baltimore Orioles outfielder, a leadoff man with speed who played 13 of his 14 seasons (1972-1984) in Baltimore and finished with the 1985 San Diego Padres. He was the 1973 American League Rookie of the Year, hitting .337 with 23 steals, and an All-Star in 1980, when he hit .318, scored 118 runs and became the first Oriole with 200 hits in a season. He was an 11th-round pick in 1968 out of Virginia State, where he played baseball only as a senior, batting .578. Two years in the Army, including time as a platoon leader in Vietnam, earned him a Bronze Star before his professional career resumed. He played in the 1979 and 1983 World Series, Baltimore winning in 1983, and retired with a .281 average, 1,422 hits and 254 steals. He later coached first base for Boston, Baltimore and Cleveland, and was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 73 | 5 | 24 | 22 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #517 card?
It is card #517 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Bumbry of the Baltimore Orioles.
How many cards are in the 1979 Topps Baseball set?
726 cards, numbered 1 through 726 with none skipped and issued as a single series, tracked as 727 collectible states: #369 Bump Wills comes with a Rangers or a Blue Jays team banner, and the master set counts both.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA, 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.