1979 Topps #516 Champ Summers
About Champ Summers
Card #516 pictures Summers with the Reds, but he was hitting .200 in 27 games when Cincinnati sent him to Detroit on May 25, 1979. Sparky Anderson took over the Tigers on June 11, and Summers platooned in the outfield, finishing at .291 with a career-high 21 home runs and 62 RBIs. The right-field bleachers at Tiger Stadium came to be known as Champ's Camp, and a Berkeley fan club held up a banner during a Game of the Week telecast.
Champ Summers was a left-handed-hitting outfielder and first baseman who played 11 seasons, 1974 to 1984, for the Athletics, Cubs, Reds, Tigers, Giants and Padres, hitting 54 home runs. He served in Vietnam as a paratrooper, earned a Purple Heart, and played college basketball at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he first played organized baseball as a senior. Oakland signed him in 1971 for $500 a month, and he reached the majors on May 4, 1974 at age 27, replacing Reggie Jackson in the ninth inning. His father gave him the nickname: he said the newborn looked like he had gone ten rounds with Joe Louis. Used mostly as a pinch-hitter until Detroit acquired him in 1979, he hit 38 of his career home runs over 1979 and 1980. His first and last major league homers were both pinch-hit grand slams. He was a Padres bench bat on the 1984 National League champions, and later coached for the Yankees and managed the Gateway Grizzlies in 2001. He is in the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 196 | 43 | 113 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 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: #259 Cincinnati Reds / Sparky Anderson
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #2 1978 Home Run Leaders
- #3 1978 RBI Leaders
- #20 Joe Morgan
- #47 Fred Norman
- #73 Ken Henderson
- #100 Tom Seaver
- #126 Doug Bair
- #149 Manny Sarmiento
- #174 Rick Auerbach
- #200 Johnny Bench
- #204 Pete Rose
- #220 Cesar Geronimo
- #281 Vic Correll
- #301 Tom Hume
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #516 card?
It is card #516 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Champ Summers of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.