1979 Topps #204 Pete Rose


About this card
Cards #201-206 are the Record Breakers subset: Mike Edwards (#201), Ron Guidry (#202), J.R. Richard (#203), Pete Rose (#204), John Stearns (#205) and Sammy Stewart (#206).
About Pete Rose
At Shea Stadium on April 29, 1978, Rose went 5-for-6 with 3 home runs in Cincinnati's 14-7 win over the Mets. His 1979 Topps cards retained the Reds: All-Star #650 and Record Breakers #204. With Philadelphia in 1979, he played first base while Mike Schmidt held third.
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 | 1,861 | 104 | 610 | 646 | 207 | 92 | 126 | 76 | 0 |
| SGC | 197 | 4 | 28 | 72 | 54 | 15 | 9 | 15 | 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
More Pete Rose in this set: #650
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
- #220 Cesar Geronimo
- #281 Vic Correll
- #301 Tom Hume
- #326 Pedro Borbon
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #204 card?
It is card #204 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds. Cards #201-206 are the Record Breakers subset: Mike Edwards (#201), Ron Guidry (#202), J.R. Richard (#203), Pete Rose (#204), John Stearns (#205) and Sammy Stewart (#206).
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.