25 Most Valuable 1963 Topps Baseball Cards
Of all the great Topps sets of the 1960s, many collectors would argue that the 1963 Topps baseball cards have one of the most creative and colorful designs.
The large color player images on the fronts complimented by smaller, encircled black and white player images in the lower-right corner are a fantastic one-two punch.
And the rookie card and star power packed within are practically unrivaled by any other set of the decade…
Make no mistake, Topps was putting forth a great effort to deliver a high quality product to help stave off Fleer who released a set of its own in 1963.
There’s so much to love about this set and in this guide, I’ll run through the 25 most valuable.
Let’s jump right in!
1963 Topps Baseball Set Snapshot
SET DETAILS
576
Pete Rose, Willie Stargell, Tony Oliva
Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax
GRADING ANALYSIS
271,200
TOTAL GRADED BY PSA
77,585
PSA 8 Population
28.6%
PSA 8 Grade Rate
MOST GRADED CARDS
1
#200 Mickey Mantle
3.3%
8,891
2
#537 1963 Rookie Stars
2.7%
7,322
3
#173 Bombers’ Best Tresh/Mantle/Richardson
2.0%
5,419
Need Help Selling Your Sports Cards?
Fill out the form below and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours. No obligation.
Ross Uitts – Owner
- #1
1963 Topps #537 Pete Rose Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 8 Value $18,500 – $19,000Total PSA Population 7,322PSA 8 Population 427PSA 8 Grade Rate 5.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)One of the key rookie cards of the 1960s, the Pete Rose rookie
kicks off our liSt. Rose may share the space with Pedro Gonzalez, Ken McMullen and Al Weis but he is clearly the star of the show here. I’ve always loved the bright colors on this card as they come together quite nicely to give this card some major eye appeal.
Rose may not be a Hall of Famer but that hasn’t stopped him from being a legend and collector favorite across the hobby.
Also, the fact that this card belongs to the scarcer high-number Series 7 (cards #523-576) makes it a bit more challenging to find and gives it an added boost in value.
Collectors will pay big bucks for these in high grade and even lower grade specimens are by no means cheap.
- #2
1963 Topps #200 Mickey Mantle
PSA 8 Value $7,250 – $7,500Total PSA Population 8,891PSA 8 Population 378PSA 8 Grade Rate 4.3% (Set Avg: 28.6%)New York Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle’s all-out playing style was his calling card.
It was also his Achilles heel.
In 1963, Mantle was a reigning MVP on a team with three consecutive AL pennants to its name.
Regardless of previous results, Mantle pushed the envelope in his age-31 season.
It caught up to him on June 5th.
In an attempt to secure a Brooks Robinson fly ball that looped over his head, Mantle caught his cleats in a chain-link fence and broke a bone in his foot.
It was a sensational attempt, but it also cost Mantle 61 games.
It was a huge loss for the Yankees, even though they still won their fourth AL pennant.
Mantle slashed .314/.441/.622 with 15 home runs in 61 games.
Who knows how unbeatable they would have been with him healthy?
In the end, a compromised Mantle hit .133 with zero home runs in the World Series.
Brooklyn took advantage, upending the rival Yankees in an emphatic four-game sweep.
- #3
1963 Topps #210 Sandy Koufax
PSA 8 Value $2,800 – $2,900Total PSA Population 4,321PSA 8 Population 277PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.4% (Set Avg: 28.6%)It’s not too often that you see Koufax’s name ahead of guys like Clemente, Mays and Aaron when it comes to 1960s baseball cards.
But, I think his MVP season that year may have something to do with it…
His numbers that year were jaw-dropping as he’d win 25 games, strikeout 306 batters, toss 11 shutouts and turn in a 1.88 ERA.
And he absolutely shredded the New York Yankees during the World Series that season as he pitched two complete games giving up only 3 runs and striking out 23.
He won the Cy Young, regular season MVP and World Series MVP that year in one of the finest seasons any pitcher has ever had.
- #4
1963 Topps #340 Yogi Berra
PSA 8 Value $2,400 – $2,500Total PSA Population 1,569PSA 8 Population 98PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.2% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Mantle’s longtime teammate and fellow Yankee legend, Yogi Berra, would play his last season with the iconic ball club in 1963.
He’d start in just 32 games at the catcher position but had also been helping the team out as a player coach, hence the “C-Coach” designation below his name on this card.
He was clearly on the decline but still performed well enough (and was still loved enough) to be named to his 18th and final All-Star game.
Although his playing days with the Yankees may have ended in 1963, he’d still appear in the 1964 Topps set the following year so this wasn’t his last card in a Yankees uniform.
- #5
1963 Topps #300 Willie Mays
PSA 8 Value $2,200 – $2,300Total PSA Population 4,219PSA 8 Population 345PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.2% (Set Avg: 28.6%)The weight of being Willie Mays got too heavy in 1963.
Following a financial catastrophe shared between him and his wife, Margherite, and now in the middle of subsequent divorce proceedings, the San Francisco Giants megastar was in dire emotional straits.
He suffered bouts of collapse, likely due to panic, and even broke down crying in a shaking fit during a road trip to Chicago.
“I’m lonely, I want to have a family of my own,” Mays explained in an August 1963 magazine feature.
As troubled as his personal life got in ’63, Mays still held his perch as the game’s greatest pure talent.
Now the highest-paid player in baseball at $105,000 a year, the 32-year-old center fielder led MLB in WAR (10.6) for the fourth time in six seasons.
Mays won the second-ever All-Star Game MVP award, a seventh consecutive Gold Glove, and a top-five MVP placement with a .314 average, 38 home runs, 115 runs scored, and 103 RBIs.
- #6
1963 Topps #540 Roberto Clemente
PSA 8 Value $2,100 – $2,200Total PSA Population 3,708PSA 8 Population 399PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)There’s a secret peril to being an elite line-drive hitter.
Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente was never a 450-foot homer kind of guy.
He zinged lasers to all parts of the field, most of them chest-high to just above head-high.
Clemente was all about hard, square contact, and his batting averages reflected it.
In 1963, the 28-year-old right fielder finished second in the NL batting race (.320), six points behind Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Tommy Davis.
Two years before, he won his first batting title.
Clemente went on to win three more, starting the next year.
There isn’t much bad news when you’re lighting up balls as Clemente did.
But it can kill innings if you get on top of the ball.
Clemente grounded into an MLB-worst (and career-worst) 24 double plays in 1963.
He currently sits 24th all-time with 275 twin killings in 10,212 plate appearances.
With a longer career similar to his peer Hank Aaron, it’s possible he’d be locked into the top five.
- #7
1963 Topps #390 Hank Aaron
PSA 8 Value $2,050 – $2,100Total PSA Population 4,033PSA 8 Population 343PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.5% (Set Avg: 28.6%)In 1963, Hank Aaron put together a prototype season for current MVP-level superstars like Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. At his athletic peak at 29, Aaron put together arguably his most complete campaign.
The Milwaukee Braves right fielder led the National League with 44 home runs and placed second with 31 stolen bases.
This earned Aaron the third membership in the 30/30 Club and created a brand-new 40/30 Club.
No one would hit 40 bombs and steal at least 30 bases again until Jose Canseco opened the 40/40 Club in 1988.
What’s more, Aaron also topped the Majors in runs scored (121), RBIs (130), slugging percentage (.586), OPS (.977), and OPS+ (179).
He also narrowly missed the first NL Triple Crown in 26 years, finishing third in batting (.319) by seven points.
It all calculated out to a top-three MVP finish for Aaron, his eighth top-nine placement in nine years.
- #8
1963 Topps #228 Tony Oliva Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 8 Value $2,000 – $2,050Total PSA Population 1,661PSA 8 Population 146PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)A rash decision could have sent Tony Oliva’s MLB career in an entirely different direction.
In 1963, Oliva was brought up for his second Spring Training with the Minnesota Twins.
It seemed likely that he’d win a roster spot outright, or at least that’s what the 24-year-old outfielder thought.
Instead, the Twins sent Oliva down to Triple-A Dallas-Fort Worth at the last minute.
The Twins’ brass felt like the kid needed one more pro season under his belt before the jump.
Oliva, meanwhile, was incensed.
At first, Oliva considered cutting ties with the Twins and heading back to his native Cuba.
However, future teammates Vic Power and Zoilo Versalles quickly pulled him off that ledge.
The veterans told Oliva to put on a show in the Minors.
If he did that, his Big League dream would be assured.
That’s exactly what Oliva made happen.
He hit .304 with 23 home runs and 74 RBIs in Pacific Coast League action and was brought up for good in September.
- #9
1963 Topps #553 Willie Stargell Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 8 Value $1,500 – $1,550Total PSA Population 3,604PSA 8 Population 398PSA 8 Grade Rate 11.0% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Willie Stargell was hitting tons of home runs in the 1960s but he really started to smash during the 70s.
In fact, no other player hit more home runs than Stargell did as he’d send 296 over the fence by the end of the decade.
His rookie card may not be the hobby icon that Rose’s is but as a Hall of Fame rookie card, this is definitely one that is consistently on collectors’ want lists.
As card #553, it’s also one of the tougher 7th Series high number cards giving it a bit more bump in value.
- #10
1963 Topps #496 Rookie Stars
PSA 8 Value $975 – $1,000Total PSA Population 490PSA 8 Population 76PSA 8 Grade Rate 15.5% (Set Avg: 28.6%) - #11
1963 Topps #120 Roger Maris
PSA 8 Value $775 – $800Total PSA Population 3,482PSA 8 Population 213PSA 8 Grade Rate 6.1% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Injuries zapped Roger Maris at several critical times during his career, none more troublesome than the 1963 MLB season.
Already under a powerful microscope in New York City, Maris missed nearly half the campaign with a variety of different injuries.
He was already a pariah among many New York Yankees fans and media stars, and his absence only added to the negativity.
In retrospect, it’s extremely unfair.
Maris was fantastic in the 90 regular-season games he could play for the ’63 Yankees, slashing .263/.346/.542 with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs.
Spread out over a full season, the 28-year-old right fielder would have pushed 50 bombs and 100 RBIs.
Instead, Maris was hobbled and only appeared in two World Series games for the four-time defending AL pennant winners.
He went 0-for-5 in those appearances, fueling more criticism in a four-game sweep by the hated Dodgers.
- #12
1963 Topps #250 Stan Musial
PSA 8 Value $750 – $775Total PSA Population 2,947PSA 8 Population 300PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.2% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Call him Stan “the Grandpa” Musial.
By 1963, the St. Louis Cardinals superstar was no longer the National League’s hitting king.
He was 42, prepping for retirement, and suffering through the aches and pains of 25 years of professional baseball.
’63 was a year-long goodbye to the man who set the standard for all-around batting excellence.
It also adds a neat bit of trivia to his overflowing Cooperstown profile.
On September 10th, Musial welcomed his first grandchild.
He stayed awake all night and reported to play just mere hours later.
In his first at-bat, Musial celebrated the occasion with a blistering home run.
In doing so, he became the first-ever grandfather to hit a homer in the Majors.
It was a neat nightcap to one of the greatest careers ever.
Musial called it a day at the end of the regular season, finishing his career with a .331 average, .976 OPS, 3,630 hits, 475 home runs, and nearly 2,000 RBIs and runs scored (1,951/1,949).
- #13
1963 Topps #380 Ernie Banks
PSA 8 Value $750 – $775Total PSA Population 2,312PSA 8 Population 250PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)The Chicago Cubs took it on the chin several times in 1963-64.
There was some good news.
The Cubs finished 82-80, marking their first winning season since 1946.
It inspired at least a little bit of optimism in a jaded Wrigley Field crowd.
But then came the bad.
“Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks had one of his worst seasons in a Chicago uniform.
Plagued by a case of the subclinical mumps, the 32-year-old first baseman had one of his worst seasons ever.
Banks posted his first sub-average OPS+ since 1954 (94), slashing a slight .227/.292/.403 with 18 home runs and 64 RBIs in 130 games.
The year before, Banks hit .269 with 37 homers and 104 RBIs.
Things went from troublesome to tragic after that.
In the offseason, 1962 NL Rookie-of-the-Year Ken Hubbs died in a plane crash into Utah Lake.
His death hung over the team for a while, as did the inexplicable (albeit less important) decision to deal away Lou Brock to the rival Cardinals.
- #14
1963 Topps #415 Bob Gibson
PSA 8 Value $650 – $675Total PSA Population 1,813PSA 8 Population 195PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Without a modern-day rehab approach, Bob Gibson had to handle things on his own during the 1962-63 season.
That was the way of the day.
With limited oversight from the St. Louis Cardinals’ medical staff, the 27-year-old righty was left to deal with the aftermath of a broken ankle suffered during a September 1962 batting practice.
As many people in their mid-twenties would do, Gibson enjoyed his offseason and relaxed more than he rehabbed.
As a result, he was far from 100% when he returned to the Cardinals for Spring Training in ’63.
The numbers bore that out.
Gibson had an extremely rough go of it in April and May, giving up 36 earned runs in 56.2 innings pitched and averaging an unseemly 5.62 ERA.
Gibson got right as the spring turned to summer, as did the Cardinals.
St. Louis surged midseason to enter the NL pennant race, but faded in the final few weeks to finish second to the Dodgers.
- #15
1963 Topps #173 Bombers Best
PSA 8 Value $625 – $650Total PSA Population 5,419PSA 8 Population 238PSA 8 Grade Rate 4.4% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Fresh off being named the Rooke of the Year in 1962, Tom Tresh was featured on the beloved “Bombers’ Best” card alongside Mickey Mantle and Bobby Richardson.
It’s a fantastic card but I’ve always wondered why Topps selected these three as the trio to be featured on this card.
In 1962, the Yankees sent 6 players to the All-Star game in Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard, Bobby Richardson, Tom Tresh and Ralph Terry.
Richardson was terrific and Tresh had just won the ROY award but I think the card could have been even better had Maris and Howard been alongside Mantle instead.
Howard been an All-Star for 6 straight seasons and would win the MVP in 1963 (I know Topps couldn’t have foreseen that) and Maris had snapped Ruth’s singe season home run record back in 1961 and won back-to-back MVPs in 1960 and 1961.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the card as-is, I just always love these nuances of the hobby that have created the cards we love today.
- #16
1963 Topps #242 Power Plus
PSA 8 Value $600 – $625Total PSA Population 2,598PSA 8 Population 315PSA 8 Grade Rate 12.1% (Set Avg: 28.6%) - #17
1963 Topps #3 National League Home Run Leaders
PSA 8 Value $550 – $575Total PSA Population 1,909PSA 8 Population 166PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.7% (Set Avg: 28.6%) - #18
1963 Topps #325 Jack Sanford
PSA 8 Value $500 – $525Total PSA Population 210PSA 8 Population 54PSA 8 Grade Rate 25.7% (Set Avg: 28.6%)The San Francisco Giants rode Jack Sanford into the ground in 1963.
It made sense, at least for the time.
Sanford logged a career-high 265.1 innings for the pennant-winning Giants in ’62, posting a sterling 24-7 record with a 3.43 ERA in 39 appearances.
He placed as the NL’s Cy Young runner-up and logged nearly eight innings per contest in three Series starts (23.1).
The 34-year-old righty had shown the durability necessary to throw the team over his pitching shoulder, and the Giants saw that as an opportunity to double down in ’63.
Sanford extended his already mammoth workload to an MLB-high 42 starts and 284.1 innings pitched.
It didn’t quite work the same magic.
The team slipped to third in the NL, and Sanford allowed an NL-worst 111 runs.
Most glaringly, Sanford’s arm was beat.
It would never truly recover, with blood clots later detected in 1964.
You won’t find many examples of Sanford’s card in top grade, making it one of the more expensive “common” cards in the set.
- #19
1963 Topps #25 Al Kaline
PSA 8 Value $500 – $525Total PSA Population 2,441PSA 8 Population 243PSA 8 Grade Rate 10.0% (Set Avg: 28.6%) - #20
1963 Topps #472 Lou Brock
PSA 8 Value $480 – $490Total PSA Population 2,022PSA 8 Population 228PSA 8 Grade Rate 11.3% (Set Avg: 28.6%)The St. Louis Cardinals got scorched by Lou Brock.
It’s no surprise he landed on their trade radar.
The 24-year-old Chicago Cubs right fielder wasn’t a finished product entering his second full season in 1963.
He was a free swinger with no patience for anything remotely near the strike zone.
The 24-year-old right fielder struck out 122 times in 588 plate appearances, good for third-worst in the National League.
Part of that was because Brock was still learning his role.
And part of that was because Brock played for a directionless Cubs club that had finished no better than fifth in the Senior Circuit since 1946.
When the chips were down, though, and the rivalries were at their hottest, Brock showed up.
He hit a molten .393 against the Cardinals in ’62 and followed it up with another respectable showing in ’63.
That was all Cards GM Bing Devine needed to see.
In June 1964, Devine poached Brock in a six-player deal that goes down as one of the most one-sided in MLB history.
- #21
1963 Topps #500 Harmon Killebrew
PSA 8 Value $470 – $480Total PSA Population 1,538PSA 8 Population 192PSA 8 Grade Rate 12.5% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Harmon Killebrew didn’t just hit home runs.
He hit absolute tanks that left teammates, opponents, and fans with their jaws on the floor.
“The homers he hit against would be homers in any park, including Yellowstone,” Orioles manager Paul Richards said at the time.
After leading the American League with 48 home runs in 1962, Killebrew defended his title with an MLB-best 45 in 1963.
It was Killebrew’s third home-run crown in five years, and three more would follow.
Overall, Killebrew hit .258 with an AL-best .555 slugging percentage, adding 18 doubles, 88 runs scored, 72 walks, and 96 RBIs in 142 games.
The 27-year-old left fielder also broke even in most defensive metrics, en route to an All-Star appearance and 4th-place MVP finish.
With Killebrew anchoring the middle of the lineup, the Twins won 91 games for a second consecutive year, this time placing third in a stacked American League.
- #22
1963 Topps #21 Marty Keough
PSA 8 Value $460 – $480Total PSA Population 201PSA 8 Population 50PSA 8 Grade Rate 24.9% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Marty Keough was never a star.
But he knew how to stick around and make a career for himself.
When the Cincinnati Reds acquired Keough before the 1962 campaign, the Associated Press wrote off the trade as “a routine deal” for a low-impact utility player.
While Keough never really broke out in a Reds uniform, he proved far more useful than the AP gave him credit for.
After a productive ’62 debut, Keough had perhaps his best offensive season in ’63.
Hailed by manager Fred Hutchinson as one of the club’s “prize workmen,” the 29-year-old slashed .227/.337/.401 for the 86-win Reds with six home runs and 21 RBIs in 205 plate appearances.
His 110 OPS+ stands as his personal best and placed third on the team among regulars.
Most importantly, Keough was a defensive glue guy, playing five different positions over 95 regular-season games.
Keough’s card is one of the toughest to find in top condition in the set, forcing set collectors to pay big-time for high-grade examples.
- #23
1963 Topps #1 National League Batting Leaders
PSA 8 Value $450 – $460Total PSA Population 1,478PSA 8 Population 127PSA 8 Grade Rate 8.6% (Set Avg: 28.6%) - #24
1963 Topps #341 Jack Baldschun
PSA 8 Value $440 – $460Total PSA Population 177PSA 8 Population 28PSA 8 Grade Rate 15.8% (Set Avg: 28.6%)Jack Baldschun’s peak was short and sweet.
It wouldn’t have happened without his nasty screwball.
Baldschun opened his MLB career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961 and was shoved directly into the fire.
47-win Philadelphia was historically putrid, and the team leaned on his talented, durable arm to eat innings, totaling an MLB-leading 65 appearances.
It wasn’t an aberration.
Leaning on the nasty dips and dives of his screwball, Baldschun appeared in an average of 67 games per year from 1962 to 1965.
“I found I could throw the screwball just about where I wanted to,” Baldschun said.
“I felt it didn’t matter who was up there, that I could get him out.” Baldschun’s screwball reached its peak effectiveness during the 1963 campaign.
The 26-year-old went 11-7 for the fourth-place Phils, pitching to a sterling 2.30 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 113.2 innings.
His 141 ERA+ was a career best and would have ranked fourth in the NL had he qualified.
- #25
1963 Topps #138 Pride of National League
PSA 8 Value $390 – $400Total PSA Population 3,791PSA 8 Population 431PSA 8 Grade Rate 11.4% (Set Avg: 28.6%)
Ross’s Take
Clearly, there are some fantastic cards in this 576-card checkliSt. The bright colors, dual-images on the fronts, and unique design was a perfect way to showcase so many great stars and Hall of Famers of the day.
Within it, there were also several different subsets, including: 1962 League Leaders (#1-10) World Series Highlights (#142-148) Rookie Stars Player Combos (Bombers’ Best, Buc Blasters, Power Plus, Pride of N.L.) Managers Checklists This one is one of my favorite sets of the 1960s (and of the vintage era in general) and it’s always fun to go through them.
