1962 Topps #44 Don Taussig
About Don Taussig
Houston took Taussig in the expansion draft of October 10, 1961, its tenth selection and the 19th pick overall, plucking him from a St. Louis club that had left him unprotected. He answered on April 24, 1962, starting in left field and homering against the Cardinals to put the Colt .45s ahead for good in a 4-3 win; it was his only home run that year. He split the season between Houston and the Triple-A Oklahoma City 89ers, and 13 of those 16 games came as a pinch hitter; they were the last of his major league career. Card 44 shows him with the Colt .45s in the first print series, and it is his recognized rookie card.
Donald Franklin Taussig was born in New York City on February 19, 1932. An outfielder who threw and batted right-handed, he stood six feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. Jewish, he attended Long Beach High School in Long Beach, New York, along with Rutgers University and Hofstra University. He signed with his hometown Yankees in 1950, and after a single season in the low minors the Giants acquired him. A 1957 Texas League season of .286 with 95 runs, 22 home runs and 91 RBIs pushed him toward the majors. He debuted with the San Francisco Giants on April 23, 1958, got into 39 games, then spent 1959 and 1960 back in Triple-A, hitting .286 with 23 home runs and 101 RBIs for the 1960 Portland Beavers. When Portland signed a working agreement with the Cardinals his major league rights went with it, and he spent all of 1961 in St. Louis, batting .287 in 98 games with 47 starts in the outfield. He closed his major league career with the 1962 Houston Colt .45s. Over 153 games he batted .262 with four home runs and 30 RBIs, and committed just one error in the outfield for a .994 fielding percentage across all three positions. His minor league career continued through 1964.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 299 | 0 | 9 | 118 | 131 | 24 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #44 card?
It is card #44 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Taussig of the Houston Colt .45's.
Is 1962 Topps #44 a rookie card?
Yes - #44 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Don Taussig.
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.