1962 Topps #542 Dave Philley
About Dave Philley
Number 542 puts Philley in the 1962 set's seventh series, a high number listing him with the Boston Red Sox - a club he barely got to play for. The path there was odd: Baltimore released him after the 1961 season, his old Orioles manager Paul Richards signed him in March 1962 for the expansion Houston Colt.45s he was building, and Houston traded him to Boston the same day. The Red Sox used the 42-year-old almost entirely as a pinch hitter and it did not take - he batted .143 in 38 games, played his last big-league game on August 6 and was released on August 14, closing out 18 seasons.
David Earl Philley, born May 16, 1920, in Paris, Texas, was a switch-hitting outfielder who spent 18 seasons in the major leagues, from a September 1941 debut with the Chicago White Sox through 1962 with the Boston Red Sox. Signed by the White Sox as a catcher in 1940 and converted to the outfield in the minors, he took over as Chicago's regular center fielder in 1947 after four years of wartime Army service. Philley played for eight clubs, adding the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Francisco Giants, and his strong arm led American League outfielders in assists three times. His best season came in 1953 with the Athletics: .303 with 188 hits, 30 doubles and 157 games, all career highs. He reached the World Series once, in 1954, when the New York Giants swept his Indians in four straight. Late in his career he turned into one of the game's premier pinch hitters, setting both major league and American League records off the bench. He finished at .270 with 1,700 hits, 84 home runs and 729 RBI in 1,904 games, and died March 15, 2012, in Paris, Texas.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 263 | 0 | 4 | 95 | 99 | 43 | 14 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 37 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
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 #542 card?
It is card #542 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Philley of the Boston Red Sox.
Why is #542 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.
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.