25 Most Valuable 1959 Topps Baseball Cards
Rounding out one of the most celebrated decades in baseball card collecting, the 1959 Topps baseball card set delivered a unique design, bright colors, and fantastic imagery.
Shuffle through a stack of them, and you’ll notice that these cards really pop!
The only thing missing is Ted Williams, who had signed a deal with Fleer to design a set just for him.
Regardless, the checklist boasts some of the biggest names in the history of the sport.
And in this guide, I’ll run through the 25 most valuable.
Let’s jump right in!
1959 Topps Baseball Set Snapshot
SET DETAILS
572
Bob Gibson
Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax
GRADING ANALYSIS
407,986
TOTAL GRADED BY PSA
95,678
PSA 8 Population
23.5%
PSA 8 Grade Rate
MOST GRADED CARDS
1
#10 Mickey Mantle
3.1%
12,510
2
#478 Bob Clemente
2.3%
9,241
3
#380 Hank Aaron
2.0%
8,229
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- #1
1959 Topps #10 Mickey Mantle
PSA 8 Value $11,500 – $12,000Total PSA Population 12,510PSA 8 Population 330PSA 8 Grade Rate 2.6% (Set Avg: 23.5%)In 1958, the New York Yankees won their seventh World Series in nine years with the league’s highest-scoring offense and third-stingiest pitching staff.
In ’59, the Yankees plummeted to around league-average in both hitting and pitching.
As a result, the Bronx Bombers backslid from 92-win champs to essentially a .500 team.
What gives?
The usual suspects of age, injuries, and underperformance were part of it.
But perhaps what really sank the Yankees was Mickey Mantle’s (relative) struggles.
Mantle was a medical textbook on leg problems.
No matter how graceful he could look from day to day in the outfield, he was hurting and hurting bad.
His offensive numbers reflected that, too.
Mantle’s OPS dropped to his worst since 1953 (.904), and he once again topped the Majors in strikeouts (126).
Don’t blame Mantle too much, though.
Remarkably, the 27-year-old still led the NL in OPS+ (151) and WAR (6.6) despite a 15-20% drop in overall offensive production.
- #2
1959 Topps #514 Bob Gibson Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 8 Value $9,500 – $9,750Total PSA Population 7,290PSA 8 Population 391PSA 8 Grade Rate 5.4% (Set Avg: 23.5%)One of the key rookie cards of the vintage era, a young Bob Gibson is pictured smiling and staring off into the distance, centered between a bright, pink background.
The card appears calm and cool but Gibson was absolutely ferocious on the mound.
I still shake my head in disbelief whenever I read or hear about his 1968 season.
As if his minuscule 1.12 ERA over 304.2 innings pitched wasn’t impressive enough, he also led the league in strikeouts (268) and shutouts (13) while winning 22 games.
Thirteen shutouts…and in the live-ball era, too.
During Game 1 of the World Series, he also set the World Series single-game record for strikeouts after mowing down 17 Detroit Tiger batters.
That record still stands today and isn’t likely to be broken anytime soon.
For his efforts in what many consider to be the most incredible season any pitcher ever had, Gibson picked up both the Cy Young and MVP awards.
- #3
1959 Topps #163 Sandy Koufax
PSA 8 Value $4,000 – $4,100Total PSA Population 5,859PSA 8 Population 181PSA 8 Grade Rate 3.1% (Set Avg: 23.5%)One of my favorite Sandy Koufax cards of all, I have always loved its imagery as Koufax’s beaming smile and the bright yellow background shine off the cardboard.
His 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings ratio during the 1959 season indicate that his overpowering speed was on full display, but his 4.05 ERA and 1.49 WHIP show he was still a couple of years away from his legendary dominance.
Even though Koufax took the loss in his only start of the 1959 World Series in Game 5, it wasn’t for lack of pitching brilliance as he allowed just one run in seven innings while striking out six Chicago White Sox.
The offensive support just wasn’t with him that game as starter Bob Shaw along with Billy Pierce and Dick Donovan, in relief, held the Dodgers scoreless.
Regardless, the Dodgers went on to win the title in six games making this card an excellent tribute to one of the club’s most iconic players during a remarkable season.
- #4
1959 Topps #50 Willie Mays
PSA 8 Value $3,400 – $3,500Total PSA Population 7,819PSA 8 Population 401PSA 8 Grade Rate 5.1% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Willie Mays seemed invincible heading into the San Francisco Giants’ 1959 spring camp.
The 28-year-old Mays was deep into his time as the game’s greatest hitter, with five All-Star selections, an MVP, and a Rookie-of-the-Year already in the rearview.
When asked, most of his peers pointed to the “Say Hey Kid” as the best baseball had to offer.
He was undeniable.
Unstoppable.
And then, a freak injury put everything back into perspective.
On March 12th, Mays caught his right leg on Boston’s Sammy White’s catching gear.
It left a grotesque gash, exposing the future Hall-of-Famer’s shin bone.
It took 35 stitches and a couple of weeks on the shelf to sidestep disaster.
In August, Mays also suffered a broken right pinky.
Despite all the bad injury luck, Mays still hit .313 with 34 home runs and an NL-best 27 stolen bases.
Yet, he came off as more mortal now as the 1960s approached.
- #5
1959 Topps #380 Hank Aaron
PSA 8 Value $3,400 – $3,500Total PSA Population 8,229PSA 8 Population 348PSA 8 Grade Rate 4.2% (Set Avg: 23.5%)You can easily argue that Hank Aaron’s 1959 season is among the greatest all-around performances by a position player in Major League history.
Aaron did absolutely everything as a hitter and did it better than anyone else.
The 25-year-old won his second NL batting title with an MLB-best .355 average while also pacing the Majors in hits (223), slugging (.636), OPS (1.037), OPS+ (183), and total bases (400).
Not only that, Aaron also placed second in the NL in on-base percentage (.401), second in at-bats (609), second in doubles (46), third in homers (39), third in RBIs (123), and fourth in runs scored (116).
Heck, he even finished eighth with seven triples!
But what really reframes Aaron’s ’59 masterpiece as an all-timer is how sublime his defense was.
The third-place NL MVP finisher won his second Gold Glove, committing only five errors in the outfield and at third base.
- #6
1959 Topps #478 Roberto Clemente
PSA 8 Value $2,700 – $2,800Total PSA Population 9,241PSA 8 Population 658PSA 8 Grade Rate 7.1% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Roberto Clemente’s early injury issues seemed behind him going into the 1959 season.
After a half-year stint in the U.S.
Marine Reserves, Clemente returned to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the spring more muscular and agile than ever before.
Even better, he told the Pirates’ managerial staff that his nagging back issues were starting to clear up.
Everything was primed and ready for Clemente to make an All-Star jump.
It wouldn’t be that simple, however.
As Spring Training progressed, Clemente began to speak up about pain in his right elbow.
It remained bothersome for the first month and worsened when the 24-year-old outfielder landed on it while attempting a diving catch.
Clemente tried to rally, but lost athletic use of his arm within a few days.
He was sidelined for several weeks.
All in all, Clemente played in just 105 games for the fourth-place Pirates, slashing .296/.322/.396 with four homers and 50 RBIs.
- #7
1959 Topps #336 Billy Loes Without Trade Statement
PSA 8 Value $1,750 – $1,800Total PSA Population 223PSA 8 Population 15PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.7% (Set Avg: 23.5%)A member of the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers, Billy Loes spent eleven years in the Majors and was known for having an unusually dry sense of humor.
Even though he was a starter for the Dodgers during the 1952 World Series, he famously predicted the Yankees would win in seven games anyway.
He also said he never wanted to win twenty games or more in a season because the Dodgers would expect him to perform at that level every season and cut his pay if he didn’t.
The same thing that makes Hanebrink’s card so valuable is at play again with the Loes card.
His 1959 Topps issue appears in two variations: one with a statement on the reverse saying the Orioles traded Loes to the Washington Senators and one without it.
There are just 14 examples of the variation without the trade statement graded in PSA 8 condition compared to 97 with it, which is why it’s so expensive.
Interestingly, even though Loes should have appeared with the Senators in April of that year, Commissioner Ford Frick voided the trade when Loes couldn’t pitch.
- #8
1959 Topps #564 Mickey Mantle All-Star
PSA 8 Value $1,600 – $1,650Total PSA Population 5,159PSA 8 Population 314PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.1% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Mantle’s All-Star card can also fetch high prices in top condition, and the fact that he has two cards on this list shows you how popular he is within this hobby.
The Mick is pictured hitting lefty inside of a shield with a bald eagle on top surrounded by a blue background.
On the reverse side of the card, there is a statement claiming that “Mickey is the best switch-hitter of all time.” That statement couldn’t have been more accurate back then, and it still holds today.
I remember reading as a kid how Mickey’s father and grandfather would spend hours and hours on an almost daily basis teaching him how to hit from both sides of the plate.
All the work certainly paid off.
- #9
1959 Topps #322 Harry Hanebrink Without Trade Statement
PSA 8 Value $1,400 – $1,500Total PSA Population 185PSA 8 Population 10PSA 8 Grade Rate 5.4% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Harry Hanebrink made his MLB debut with the Milwaukee Braves in 1953 but would not play with them again until the 1957 and 1958 seasons.
The Braves then traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1959, where he finished off his career with six home runs, 25 RBI, and a .224 batting average to his name.
If he wasn’t as big of a star as other guys on this list, why is his card so valuable in top condition?
Well, it can be quite valuable if you are considering the rarer of two variations of this card: the one that doesn’t mention his trade to the Phillies on the card’s reverse.
The other variation that does mention the trade is far more affordable.
For perspective, PSA has graded only eight examples of the variation without the trade statement as an “8” compared to around one hundred of the other variation in that grade.
Set builders wanting to complete this set in high-grade with all variations of every card included are willing to pay top dollar to get their hands on a quality “no trade statement” variation.
- #10
1959 Topps #150 Stan Musial
PSA 8 Value $1,025 – $1,050Total PSA Population 4,019PSA 8 Population 310PSA 8 Grade Rate 7.7% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Stan Musial’s time as the National League’s ironman caught up with him in 1959.
Two years earlier, the venerable St. Louis Cardinals first baseman/outfielder played his 823rd straight game, besting the previous National League record held by Gus Suhr.
Musial played 32 more before suffering an injury in an at-bat on August 22nd, 1957.
It served as a sort of turning point.
The aging Musial wasn’t as quick to recover from the injuries and went from the ’57 batting champion and MVP runner-up to just better than a league-average hitter in ’59.
The 38-year-old slashed .255/.364/.428 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs, the former his worst HR total since 1944, and the latter the worst output of his Hall-of-Fame career.
What’s more, Musial missed nearly 40 games for the struggling Cards while posting the lowest WAR (0.3) of his 22-year run to Cooperstown.
- #11
1959 Topps #11 Billy Hunter
PSA 8 Value $1,025 – $1,050Total PSA Population 370PSA 8 Population 74PSA 8 Grade Rate 20.0% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Billy Hunter’s bat broke down by 1959, and his MLB career faded with it.
Four years before, Hunter was the effective replacement for aging shortstop Phil Rizzuto in New York.
With the 38-year-old Rizzuto near the end of his career, Hunter took a chunk of the Hall-of-Famer’s playing time.
Hunter couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity, hitting just .227 with a dismal 54 OPS+ in 98 games.
His fielding was strong, but his hitting was so poor that he was demoted to a bench role for the ’56 campaign.
Now heading toward his thirties, Hunter fell deeper into an extended slump over the next two years with the Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians.
He hit under .200 in both 1957 and 1958 before the Indians dumped him to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League.
He hit .249 for the Friars in ’59 and had his customary great defensive season, but no MLB teams came knocking.
After Toronto of the International League tendered him a contract, Hunter opted to retire.
- #12
1959 Topps #572 Billy Pierce All-Star
PSA 8 Value $975 – $1,025Total PSA Population 762PSA 8 Population 73PSA 8 Grade Rate 9.6% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Most kids stacked their baseball cards in numerical order those days and bound them with rubber bands to keep the group intact.
Surface damage from those rubber bands and being more exposed than other cards in the stack, in general, can make the first few cards in the beginning and end of this era challenging to find in high grade.
Because it’s the last card in the set, the Billy Pierce All-Star card is no exception.
Pierce was a seven-time All-Star and shined during his time with the White Sox throughout the 50s and early 60s.
However, not to take anything away from him, this card’s value in high grade is driven much more by its scarcity in that condition rather than his skill or popularity.
- #13
1959 Topps #350 Ernie Banks
PSA 8 Value $875 – $900Total PSA Population 4,859PSA 8 Population 453PSA 8 Grade Rate 9.3% (Set Avg: 23.5%)The Chicago Cubs were just as mediocre as they ever were in 1958 and 1959.
Ernie Banks somehow, some way, shrugged off the losing (and the reputation that comes along with it) to win back-to-back MVPs those years.
Often, Ernie Banks and a bunch of replacement-level players tried to keep up with the NL’s actual powerhouses.
“Without him, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque,” former manager Jimmy Dykes joked.
1958 was a brilliant year for Banks, with MLB bests in home runs (47), RBIs (129), and total bases (379).
Yet, somehow, 1959 was even better.
Banks led all players, pitchers included, with 10.2 WAR, over a win and a half better than second-place Hank Aaron.
The 28-year-old led the league in fielding percentage (.985) and assists (519) for a shortstop, with a .304 average, 45 homers, and an MLB-leading 143 RBIs, a career high.
- #14
1959 Topps #561 Hank Aaron All-Star
PSA 8 Value $825 – $850Total PSA Population 2,721PSA 8 Population 196PSA 8 Grade Rate 7.2% (Set Avg: 23.5%) - #15
1959 Topps #1 Ford Frick
PSA 8 Value $825 – $850Total PSA Population 922PSA 8 Population 86PSA 8 Grade Rate 9.3% (Set Avg: 23.5%)In 1959, commissioner Ford Frick began preparations for a wide-scale expansion of Major League Baseball.
MLB had already changed dramatically under Frick.
In 1957, the former sportswriter signed off on moving papers for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, opening the door for new fan bases in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.
Of course, this sent shockwaves through baseball and left thousands, maybe millions of New York natives, mad as heck.
Frick was even a curse word sometimes in areas of NYC.
A year after the Giants and Dodgers officially relocated, Frick began prepping in earnest for a four-team expansion.
In ’61, the American League would welcome two new teams in Anaheim and Washington, D.C.
The NL would catch up in ’62 with brand-new franchises in Houston and Queens, New York.
Frick drew more blowback, including accusations that the former NL president was tilting the scales in favor of the new Senior Circuit clubs.
However, there’s no denying just how monumental Frick’s contributions were to the modern MLB landscape.
- #16
1959 Topps #180 Yogi Berra
PSA 8 Value $775 – $800Total PSA Population 3,653PSA 8 Population 240PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.6% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Yogi Berra was a hit-first, ask-questions-later catcher early in his time with the New York Yankees.
By the end of the 1950s, Berra had turned it around 180 degrees to become one of the most confident and consistent defensive backstops ever.
In 1959, Berra set records for both the most consecutive games without an error and the most consecutive chances without an error.
Those records have since been eclipsed, yet they still carry weight when discussing Yogi’s place among the greatest Hall-of-Famers ever.
His offensive numbers sure don’t hurt that case, either.
Berra hit .284/.347/.462 in 1959 with 19 home runs and 69 RBIs in 131 games.
His 128 OPS+ was his best since his MVP runner-up campaign in 1956.
The Yankees crashed to four games over .500 and third place in ’59, mostly because the pitching staff underperformed.
It only took another year, though, for Berra and the gang to return to the mountaintop.
- #17
1959 Topps #515 Harmon Killebrew
PSA 8 Value $775 – $800Total PSA Population 2,250PSA 8 Population 161PSA 8 Grade Rate 7.2% (Set Avg: 23.5%)The sixth time was the charm for Harmon Killebrew.
Killebrew signed out of high school after a scout saw him hit a majestic, 430-plus-foot bomb at a field in Payette, Idaho.
The kid’s raw power got him a three-year, $18,000 deal with a $4,000 signing bonus.
There were issues with that.
When the team signed Killebrew, the now-defunct “bonus baby” rule forced them to roster him as a big for two years.
Stuck behind former All-Star Eddie Yost on the depth chart, Killebrew played only 47 games between 1954 and 1955.
Killebrew departed for the Minors in 1956 and made brief cameos for three more seasons.
In 1959, Killebrew finally got his big break.
Yost was traded to the Tigers and manager Cookie Lavagetto, opening the door for the 23-year-old to show what he was made of.
He was Hall-of-Fame stock.
Killebrew was an instant star in ’59, earning two All-Star nods and winning the AL home run title (42) seemingly out of nowhere.
- #18
1959 Topps #202 Roger Maris
PSA 8 Value $725 – $750Total PSA Population 2,494PSA 8 Population 255PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.2% (Set Avg: 23.5%)Roger Maris set the gears in motion for the Great Home Run Chase of 1961, some 24 months before, in an entirely different uniform.
Traded to the Kansas City Athletics in the middle of the 1958 campaign, Maris found his footing with his first All-Star year in ’59.
The 24-year-old right fielder slashed .273/.359/.464 for the seventh-place A’s with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs in 122 games.
Maris missed a few weeks of the season for appendix surgery, but closed out strong and entered the offseason on a high note.
Maris also entered the offseason as a major trade asset.
The A’s weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and ownership was always looking for a way to stay younger and cheaper.
The New York Yankees won the trade sweepstakes on the young slugger, shipping four veterans (including former perfect-game artist Don Larsen) to KC as part of a seven-player blockbuster.
Thus began one of the most storied (and contentious) runs towards a record in baseball lore.
- #19
1959 Topps #464 Willie Mays Catch Makes Series History
PSA 8 Value $700 – $725Total PSA Population 3,799PSA 8 Population 431PSA 8 Grade Rate 11.3% (Set Avg: 23.5%)
- #20
1959 Topps #450 Ed Mathews
PSA 8 Value $700 – $725Total PSA Population 1,881PSA 8 Population 123PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.5% (Set Avg: 23.5%)The Milwaukee Braves needed every one of Eddie Mathews’ 46 home runs to stay in the 1959 NL pennant race.
They could have used one more to win the dang thing.
Mathews had one of the best years of his career in ’59, on par with his MVP-caliber years from the beginning of the Milwaukee era.
The 27-year-old third baseman led all MLB hitters with 46 home runs, one off his career high from 1953.
He posted a career-best batting average (.306), scored 118 runs, drove in 114, and walked 80 times.
Mathews and fellow Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron were by far the most fearsome twosome in the Majors, finishing second and third in MVP voting.
Together, they hit 85 home runs and drove in 237 runs.
Yet, they couldn’t quite hammer a pennant home.
Milwaukee went two-and-out in a best-of-3 pennant tiebreaker with Los Angeles, wasting a clutch homer from Mathews in Game 2.
- #21
1959 Topps #461 Mickey Mantle Hits 42nd Home Run For Crown
PSA 8 Value $675 – $700Total PSA Population 5,593PSA 8 Population 305PSA 8 Grade Rate 5.5% (Set Avg: 23.5%)
- #22
1959 Topps #563 Willie Mays All-Star
PSA 8 Value $625 – $650Total PSA Population 3,108PSA 8 Population 297PSA 8 Grade Rate 9.6% (Set Avg: 23.5%) - #23
1959 Topps #445 Cal McLish
PSA 8 Value $575 – $600Total PSA Population 385PSA 8 Population 65PSA 8 Grade Rate 16.9% (Set Avg: 23.5%)The Cleveland Indians hung around the AL pennant picture for years after winning the ’54 AL pennant, with no Fall Classic return.
As the Fifties progressed, the team’s pair of aces, Bob Lemon and Bob Feller, phased themselves out due to injuries and age.
By ’59, the starting rotation was unrecognizable, with journeyman Cal McLish now in the #1 slot.
McLish held serve.
He was a borderline ace for most of 1957 and 1958, earning MVP mentions with 16 wins and a 2.99 ERA in ’58.
McLish wasn’t quite as good in ’59, but still earned his first (and last) All-Star selection and a near top-ten MVP finish.
The 33-year-old led the AL in the not-so-great category of hits allowed (253), yet still came in clutch to deliver 19 wins and a solid 3.53 ERA.
The Indians, though, didn’t have enough to stave off the Chicago White Sox, placing second in the AL for the third time in five years.
They wouldn’t sniff a runner-up league or division finish again until the 1994 strike year.
- #24
1959 Topps #500 Vic Wertz
PSA 8 Value $575 – $600Total PSA Population 422PSA 8 Population 66PSA 8 Grade Rate 15.6% (Set Avg: 23.5%)When Vic Wertz was healthy (or close to it), he was a prolific power hitter.
The 17-year MLB vet wasn’t 100% often, dealing with a laundry list of problems, including polio and multiple broken bones.
His arguable peak came in 1956 and 1957 when he hit a combined 60 home runs, made an All-Star team, and finished top-nine for AL MVP twice with the Cleveland Indians.
However, as they often did, Wertz’s health problems threw a monkey wrench into everything.
In the spring of 1958, the Pennsylvania native fractured his ankle while sliding into second base.
It cost him about four months after surgery, and by the time he returned, he no longer had the first-base job.
Wertz only got into 25 games with multi-time All-Star and Gold Glover Vic Power ahead of him, primarily as a pinch hitter.
Skeptical of Wertz’s durability, the Indians front office punted on him, trading him and outfielder Gary Geiger to Boston in the offseason for Gold Glove center fielder Jimmy Piersall.
- #25
1959 Topps #360 Al Kaline
PSA 8 Value $480 – $490Total PSA Population 3,532PSA 8 Population 287PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.1% (Set Avg: 23.5%)
Ross’s Take
There were so many great sets in the 1950s, and this is definitely one of them.
The bright colors, fantastic design, variations, and a laundry list of Hall of Famers packed within the 572-card checklist offer hobbyists a tremendous collecting experience.
Within it, there were also several different subsets, including: The Sporting News Rookie Stars (#116 – 146) Baseball Thrills (#461 – 470) The Sporting News All-Stars (#551 – 572) Various Themed Cards (Fence Busters, Hitter’s Foes, Run Preventers, etc.) Topps did a fantastic job with this set.
