Manufacturer: Bowman
Set: 1951 Bowman Baseball ➡️
Player Name: Forrest “Smoky” Burgess
Position/Team: Catcher for Cubs
Card #: 317
Card Size: 2-1/16” x 3-1/8”
Card Value Snapshot: Raw/Ungraded: $20 | Grade 7: $190
⬇️ See More Pricing Data Below
Forrest Harrill “Smoky” Burgess (1927–1991) was a durable left-handed hitting catcher who played for 18 seasons (1949–1967) in Major League Baseball. He was highly valued for his powerful bat and discipline at the plate, eventually becoming the sport’s greatest pinch hitter of his era.
Burgess was a tremendous minor league hitter before the majors and consistently maintained a high batting average throughout his MLB career. He was a six-time All-Star (1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964). Due to two All-Star Games being played annually from 1959–1962, he was on the NL All-Star team a total of nine times.
Later in his career, he transitioned into an extremely successful pinch-hitting specialist, particularly with the White Sox. He retired holding the Major League career record for Pinch Hits with 145. He was the starting catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates team that defeated the New York Yankees in the dramatic seven-game World Series in 1960. He batted a solid .333 in that series.
Burgess was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1975.
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Pricing Data For This Rookie Card
Tracking the current market value for the 1951 Bowman Smoky Burgess Card #317. Below, find updated pricing data for ungraded (raw) copies, as well as verified PSA graded sales trends collected from secondary marketplaces.
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Raw/Ungraded: $20
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Grade 1: -
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Grade 2: $20
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Grade 3: $22
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Grade 4: $45
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Grade 5: $65
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Grade 6: $160
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Grade 7: $190
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Grade 8: $300
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Grade 9: $4,100
Data Updated: July 2026
➡️ See All 1951 Bowman Rookie Card Prices
Pricing data includes raw card price & some graded card value estimates.
These values are collated from a variety of resources including recently sold listings, sales averages and a variety of other sports card pricing data sources. Please see full disclaimer on “Terms Page” for more information. (Rookiecardprices.com only shows values for regular base set cards. No prices are shown for errors, parallels, subsets, misprints or other cards unless noted.)
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Did You Know? Burgess was the primary backstop for the legendary 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates team that defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series. He batted .294 during the regular season and was brilliant in the Fall Classic, hitting .333 over five games before being lifted for a pinch-runner in Game 7—setting the stage for Bill Mazeroski’s iconic walk-off home run.
Later in his career with the Chicago White Sox, Burgess fully transitioned into a full-time pinch-hitter. He held the All-Time MLB record for career pinch-hits (145) for nearly two decades until Manny Mota broke it in 1979.
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