1962 Topps #536 Dick Gernert
About Dick Gernert
Cincinnati left Gernert unprotected and Houston grabbed him with the 31st pick of the October 10, 1961 expansion draft, one of the $75,000 selections. The Colt .45's got ten games out of him, five hits in 24 at-bats, his final big-league appearance coming on May 9 before his release. He spent the rest of the summer with Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League, hitting .289 with 20 home runs. Number 536 is a seventh-series high number.
Dick Gernert was a 6-foot-3 right-handed first baseman from Reading, Pennsylvania, who played football, basketball and baseball at Temple University and was signed by Red Sox scout Charlie Wagner after two big summers with Kentville in the Nova Scotia Senior League. He debuted for Boston on April 16, 1952, hit 19 home runs as a rookie, then took the first-base job in 1953 and belted 21. Hepatitis wrecked his 1954 and 1955 seasons, but he returned to bat a career-high .291 in 1956 and hit 20 homers in 1958, sharing the position across the decade with Vic Wertz, Norm Zauchin, Mickey Vernon and Pete Runnels. On November 21, 1959, Boston traded him to the Chicago Cubs for Jim Marshall and Dave Hillman, the first interleague trade made without waivers. Detroit, Cincinnati and expansion Houston followed, and he finished 11 seasons at .254 with 103 home runs and 402 RBIs. He later managed in the minors, coached for the Texas Rangers and scouted for decades, most notably for the New York Mets. His uncle, Dom Dallessandro, was also a major leaguer.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 257 | 1 | 8 | 113 | 87 | 29 | 15 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 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 #536 card?
It is card #536 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Gernert of the Houston Colt .45's.
Why is #536 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.