1962 Topps #223 Alex Grammas
The card back carries an uncorrected error - the birth year printed on it is wrong. Grammas was born in 1926.
Uncorrected error: The back gives the wrong birth year - Grammas was born in 1926
About Alex Grammas
Number 223 sits in the 1962 set's third print series and shows Grammas in the last season he was a real fixture in the St. Louis infield. In 1961 he got into 89 games - 66 at shortstop, 18 at second, three at third - and hit .212 with 36 hits, 10 of them doubles, and 21 runs batted in. A year later he would appear in only 21 games as a Cardinal before being traded away. Collectors know it for an uncorrected error: the back prints the wrong birth year for Grammas, who was born in 1926.
Alexander Peter Grammas, born April 3, 1926, in Birmingham, Alabama, played ten major league seasons (1954-1963) as an infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Redlegs and Chicago Cubs after signing with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1949 and starring for the Yankees-affiliated Kansas City club in the American Association. A right-handed hitter and thrower, he was St. Louis' starting shortstop in 1954, 1955 and 1959, never ranking lower than third in fielding percentage among National League shortstops in those seasons and finishing with a .969 career fielding mark. Three trades bounced him between the Cardinals and Reds before a June 1962 deal sent him to the Cubs, where he closed out his playing days in 1963. Over 913 games he batted .247 with 512 hits, 90 doubles, 10 triples, 12 home runs and 163 RBIs. Grammas then spent roughly a quarter century as a major league third base coach, finished the 1969 season as interim Pittsburgh manager, managed the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976 and 1977, and won World Series rings coaching for the 1975 Reds and the 1984 Tigers. He died in 2019 at 93.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 189 | 0 | 4 | 73 | 84 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. Slabs of the three cards printed #139 are joined by description, never by number alone. PSA registers the green tints as a separate set; a tint's population is listed under that state of the card it belongs to.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #223 card?
It is card #223 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Alex Grammas of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Does 1962 Topps #223 have an error?
The back gives the wrong birth year - Grammas was born in 1926. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #223 reads the same way.
How many cards are in the 1962 Topps Baseball set?
600 cards, tracked as 708 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps, but three different cards were printed #139 - two Hal Reniff poses, catalogued 139a and 139b, and the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, 139c - so 598 numbers make 600 cards; 93 cards carry catalogued print variations, the series-2 green tints among them, that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Baseball Almanac, Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-03.