1962 Topps #509 Dave Giusti
About Dave Giusti
Houston named Giusti to its first-year starting rotation alongside Bobby Shantz, Ken Johnson and Bob Bruce, and the 22-year-old bonus baby first pitched in the majors on April 13, 1962. His first start came April 22 against the Phillies: 6.1 innings, three earned runs, a 4-3 loss. Three more winless starts moved him to the bullpen, where he picked up his first victory on May 30 with nine shutout relief innings against the Cubs in a 14-inning game Houston won 8-6. Carrying a 2-3 record and a 5.62 ERA in mid-July, he was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City, and bone chips came out of his pitching elbow before the season ended. Card 509, a sixth-series number, is his recognized rookie card.
Dave Giusti was a right-handed pitcher from Seneca Falls, New York who played fifteen major league seasons between 1962 and 1977. A three-sport star at North Syracuse High School, he pitched and played basketball at Syracuse University, then signed with the expansion Houston Colt .45's in June 1961 as one of the club's first bonus babies. He spent most of the 1960s in Houston's rotation until an October 1968 trade sent him to St. Louis, and a year later the Cardinals dealt him to Pittsburgh. The Pirates turned him into a relief pitcher in 1970, and his palmball made him the closer for a club that won five National League East titles in six seasons, including the 1971 World Series, where he saved Game Four. He led the National League with 30 saves in 1971 and took The Sporting News reliever of the year award; his lone All-Star selection came in 1973. He finished with Oakland and the Chicago Cubs in 1977, retiring at 100-93 with 145 saves and a 3.60 ERA. A member of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, Giusti later worked in corporate sales for American Express and lived outside Pittsburgh until his death in January 2026.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 278 | 0 | 10 | 116 | 98 | 33 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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 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
- #227 Bobby Tiefenauer
- #248 Bob Aspromonte
- #278 Ken Johnson
- #304 Dick Farrell
- #332 Don Buddin
- #354 Roman Mejias
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #509 card?
It is card #509 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Giusti of the Houston Colt .45's.
Is 1962 Topps #509 a rookie card?
Yes - #509 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Dave Giusti.
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.