1962 Topps #285 Curt Simmons
About Curt Simmons
Simmons' two 1962 cards follow a 1961 season in which he went 9-10 and finished third in the National League with a 3.13 ERA. Card #56 is the National League ERA leaders card from that year, putting him alongside Warren Spahn, whose 3.02 led the league, plus Jim O'Toole at 3.10 and Mike McCormick at 3.20. His own card, #285, arrives much later, in the set's fourth series. At the plate it was his best full season too: 20 hits in 66 at-bats for a .303 average, well clear of his .171 career mark.
Curt Simmons, a left-hander, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1947 for a $65,000 bonus and debuted that September at 18. Paired with Robin Roberts, he won 17 games for the 1950 'Whiz Kids' pennant winners, then watched the World Series from the stands after his National Guard unit was called up for the Korean War, costing him all of 1951. Simmons made three All-Star teams (1952, 1953, 1957) and led the National League with six shutouts in 1952. Arm trouble cost him most of 1959, and the Phillies released him in May 1960; St. Louis signed him three days later. He anchored the Cardinals' rotation through the 1964 championship, starting Games Three and Six of the World Series with a 2.51 ERA. Sold to the Chicago Cubs in 1966 and to the California Angels in 1967, he retired at 193-183 with a 3.54 ERA and 1,697 strikeouts across 20 seasons. The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame took him in 1968, and the Phillies added him to their Wall of Fame in 1993. He later ran Limekiln Golf Club near Ambler, Pennsylvania, which he owned with Roberts, and died in 2022 at 93.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 200 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 94 | 37 | 13 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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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Related cards
More Curt Simmons in this set: #56 League Leaders
Team card: #61 St. Louis Cardinals Team
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #14 Bill White
- #19 Ray Washburn
- #28 Minnie Minoso
- #50 Stan Musial
- #83 Larry Jackson
- #106 Carl Sawatski
- #118 Julian Javier
- #149 Bob Duliba
- #167 Tim McCarver
- #198 Johnny Keane
- #202 Carl Warwick
- #223 Alex Grammas
- #241 Johnny Kucks
- #266 John Anderson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #285 card?
It is card #285 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Curt Simmons of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.