1962 Topps #552 Chicago Cubs Team
Hall of Famers on the 1961 Chicago Cubs roster: Richie Ashburn, Ernie Banks, Lou Brock, Ron Santo and Billy Williams.
About this card
This is one of the eighteen team cards in the set. Neither 1962 expansion club, the New York Mets or the Houston Colt .45s, has one.
The story on this card
The 1962 Topps team card reports on the Cubs' 1961 season, the first run of Philip K. Wrigley's College of Coaches, in which no single manager ran the club: Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe and Lou Klein each took a turn as head coach, and none of the four posted a winning record. Chicago went 64-90, seventh in the eight-team National League and 29 games behind the pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds, four wins better than 1960 but still second-division baseball. Just 673,057 came through Wrigley Field. The roster panel is the payoff: Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, veteran Richie Ashburn, and Lou Brock, who debuted that September and got into four games. Number 552 sits in the seventh-series high numbers, short-printed and scarcer than the early runs; as a team card it is nobody's rookie card.
Sources: Wikipedia (1961 Chicago Cubs season) · Wikipedia (College of Coaches) · Wikipedia (Lou Brock)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 426 | 0 | 15 | 146 | 116 | 72 | 50 | 25 | 2 |
| SGC | 71 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 20 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
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 #552 card?
It is card #552 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing the Chicago Cubs. This is one of the eighteen team cards in the set. Neither 1962 expansion club, the New York Mets or the Houston Colt .45s, has one.
Why is #552 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-598) from the seventh print series, distributed last and in the smallest quantity - the toughest cards in the set and home to all 42 short prints and the Rookie Parade. It is also a short print card (42 cards, all in 523-598). Printed in smaller quantity than the rest of the seventh series.
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.