1962 Topps #227 Bobby Tiefenauer
Uncorrected error: The last line of the back should read "won 21 games" and the caption should read "in 64 games"
About Bobby Tiefenauer
1962 Topps #227 puts Tiefenauer in the cap of the brand-new Houston Colt.45s, who had bought him from the Cardinals the previous October. It brought the first full major league season of his life: 43 games out of the Houston bullpen, 2-4 with a 4.34 ERA, one save and 60 strikeouts across a career-high 85 innings. He also had a hand in one of the year's oddest plays, flipping his glove to catcher Hal Smith on June 3 so Smith could tag Roberto Clemente at the plate with it.
Bobby Gene Tiefenauer was a hard-thrown knuckleball reliever born October 10, 1929, in Desloge, Missouri, a small town about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. The Cardinals signed him out of an open tryout, released him in the spring of 1948 before he threw a professional pitch, then re-signed him that August. What followed was 21 years of pro ball in which the minors, not the majors, held his best work: 162 wins and a 2.66 ERA over 2,039 innings, including a 49-15 stretch across four International League seasons between 1958 and 1963. In the big leagues he pitched parts of ten seasons between 1952 and 1968 for six clubs - Cardinals, Indians, Colt .45s, Braves, Yankees and Cubs - always in relief, going 9-25 with 23 saves and a 3.84 ERA in 179 games. His best year came in 1964 with Milwaukee. Catchers dreaded the pitch; his Detroit teammates would not warm him up on the sidelines without a facemask. Known as Pete at home, he coached about a dozen years in the Phillies organization, including 1979 on their major league staff as bullpen coach. He died June 13, 2000, in Desloge at 70, and was elected to the International League Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 185 | 0 | 9 | 94 | 65 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #12 Harry Craft
- #23 Norm Larker
- #44 Don Taussig
- #74 Bob Lillis
- #126 Al Cicotte
- #156 Merritt Ranew
- #177 Bobby Shantz
- #204 Johnny Weekly
- #248 Bob Aspromonte
- #278 Ken Johnson
- #304 Dick Farrell
- #332 Don Buddin
- #354 Roman Mejias
- #373 Al Heist
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #227 card?
It is card #227 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bobby Tiefenauer of the Houston Colt .45's.
Does 1962 Topps #227 have an error?
The last line of the back should read "won 21 games" and the caption should read "in 64 games". It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #227 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.