1979 Topps #449 Bombo Rivera
About Bombo Rivera
Rivera played 112 games in 1979, the most in his major league career. He hit .281 with 2 home runs and 31 RBI. Hundreds of University of Minnesota students wrote him in for student council president, and he finished second. Twins fans of the period remember him alongside outfielder Hosken Powell. His #449 card is a Twins issue.
Bombo Rivera was a Puerto Rican outfielder from Ponce who played 335 major league games between 1975 and 1982 for the Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals, hitting .265 with 10 home runs. Signed by Montreal in 1970 for a $3,000 bonus, he was a cult favorite in Minnesota from 1978 through 1980. On April 28, 1980 he fractured a kneecap running into the right-field foul pole at Metropolitan Stadium and missed about two and a half months; the Twins released him in spring training 1981. His power showed up elsewhere: 27 homers for Omaha in 1982, 29 for Aguascalientes in Mexico in 1984, and 31 for Japan's Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1985. He played 18 winter seasons in Puerto Rico, won five league titles and appeared in three Caribbean Series.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 89 | 5 | 30 | 31 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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: #41 Minnesota Twins / Gene Mauch
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #1 1978 Batting Leaders
- #27 Dave Goltz
- #58 Bob Randall
- #81 Roger Erickson
- #113 Pete Redfern
- #137 Larry Wolfe
- #162 Tom Johnson
- #193 Glenn Adams
- #219 Roy Smalley
- #246 Darrell Jackson
- #249 Paul Thormodsgard
- #274 Willie Norwood
- #300 Rod Carew
- #362 Mike Cubbage
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #449 card?
It is card #449 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bombo Rivera of the Minnesota Twins.
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.