1956 Topps Hank Aaron #31

Hank Aaron played for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves from 1954 to 1974, passed Babe Ruth's career record with his 715th home run on April 8, 1974, and finished with 755. He was the 1957 National League MVP, a record 25-time All-Star and a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1982. His 1956 Topps card, #31, comes from his third season.

The 1956 Topps set

PSA's CardFacts describes the 1956 set as 340 cards measuring 2-5/8" by 3-3/4", following the previous year's design: a portrait beside a full-color “In Action” scene, with the player's name and team in the top-left corner. Some portraits were reused from 1954 and 1955. The set's key cards include Ted Williams (#5), Ernie Banks (#15), Aaron (#31), Roberto Clemente (#33), Sandy Koufax (#79), Willie Mays (#130) and Mickey Mantle (#135).

White back or gray back

Cards #1–180 were printed on two different card stocks, so their backs are either white or gray; #181–340 are gray-back only. PSA notes that collectors tend to prefer gray backs for #1–100 and white backs for #101–180, and T206Cards.com describes the gray back as slightly scarcer for cards in Aaron's range, carrying a modest premium. Both versions are the same card on the front. PSA tracks the two backs separately, as the population counts below show.

The action scene is Willie Mays

Look at the small action picture behind Aaron's portrait: it shows a player sliding home. According to both T206Cards.com and Robert Edward Auctions' catalog, the slider is actually Willie Mays, with a Milwaukee cap airbrushed in. Every #31 has the same image — there is no corrected version. T206Cards.com also lists #31 among twenty Series 1 cards that were double-printed.

Population figures

Read together, the snapshots suggest most of the top-grade examples are white backs, which are also roughly twice as common in PSA holders overall. T206Cards.com reports another 4,504 examples in SGC holders. As always, population tells you what has been graded, not what exists — see our population report guide.

SGC holds a sizeable population of its own: T206Cards.com counts 4,504 SGC-graded #31s in the same June 2026 snapshot — 2,022 gray backs, 2,480 white backs and two gray-back overprint variants with one example each. Combined with PSA's figures, that is close to 15,000 graded copies of a single 1950s card, which is why condition, not existence, sets the price.

Notable public sales

The jump from PSA 8 to PSA 8.5 to PSA 9 is steep: roughly $4,000, then $17,000, then $34,000 in the results above. REA's description of the 8.5 noted a boldly printed, clean gray back.

Before buying a high-grade #31

• Confirm the back color on the label and in the cert record; the two versions are tracked separately.
• Read the right population row — the gray-back and white-back tables are different.
• Check centering against PSA's limits: 60/40 on the front for MINT 9, 55/45 for GEM-MT 10.
• Remember the Mays action scene is on every copy; it is not an error variation that adds value.