1962 Topps #438 Dick Brown
About Dick Brown
Expected to open 1962 as Detroit's catcher, Brown instead watched Mike Roarke start the first three games before taking the job back in game four with a 3-for-4 day that included a home run and two runs batted in. He caught a career high of 132 games, hit 12 homers and batted .241, then said he had almost hoped to be traded with bonus catcher Bill Freehan due his chance in Detroit; the Tigers sent him to Baltimore on November 26 for Gus Triandos and Whitey Herzog. The 1962 Topps card that carries him, number 438, is a fifth-series Tiger - a middle-of-the-set card.
Richard Ernest Brown was born January 17, 1935 in the coal-mining town of Shinnston, West Virginia, and grew up in Lake Worth, Florida. A right-handed hitter and thrower, he moved from the outfield to catcher in high school to handle hard-throwing teammate Herb Score, left Florida State after one semester on a baseball scholarship, and signed with Cleveland in 1953 for 3,000 dollars. He debuted on June 20, 1957 and caught nine seasons for the Indians, White Sox, Tigers and Orioles, hitting .244 with 62 home runs and 223 RBIs in 636 games behind a .989 fielding percentage. His two Detroit years were his best at the plate, and he caught six pitchers who would reach the Hall of Fame. Headaches that started over the winter of 1965-66 sent him out of Orioles camp to a Baltimore hospital; surgeons removed a brain tumor on March 7, 1966, and a second operation on May 27 found another one they could not fully take out. He never played again. Brother of longtime infielder Larry Brown, he scouted Florida for Baltimore from 1967 until his health failed, and he died in Baltimore on April 17, 1970 at 35.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 207 | 0 | 21 | 93 | 71 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 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 #438 card?
It is card #438 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Brown of the Detroit Tigers.
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.