1962 Topps #299 Don Wert
About Don Wert
Topps put Wert on card #299 in 1962, in the set's fourth series, while he was still finishing his apprenticeship in Detroit's farm system; it is recognized today as his rookie card. He had spent 1961 at Triple-A Denver, where hitting instructor Wayne Blackburn rebuilt his weight shift at the plate and he won the American Association batting title at .328. He stayed at Denver through 1962, hitting .267 while more than doubling his walks, from 44 to 96. His glove was what people talked about: after a nine-assist game, Indianapolis manager Cot Deal put him in a class with George Kell, Ken Boyer and Brooks Robinson.
Don Wert was a right-handed third baseman who spent nine major league seasons, eight of them at Detroit's hot corner. Born in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, in 1938, he starred in three sports at Solanco High School, was signed by the Tigers out of Lancaster County in 1958 for $5,000, and climbed through Valdosta, Durham, Denver and Syracuse before debuting in Detroit in May 1963 at age 24. He took over as the Tigers' regular third baseman the next spring and held the job through 1970. Never a big bat, he built his reputation on defense, and his own managers and rival ones alike measured him against Brooks Robinson and Clete Boyer. He was named to the American League All-Star team in 1968 and won a World Series ring with Detroit that October. The Tigers traded him to Washington in October 1970 in the eight-player deal that also sent Denny McLain east; the Senators released him in June 1971 and his playing career ended at 32. Wert finished with 929 hits, 77 home runs, 366 RBIs and a .242 average across 1,110 games, 1,043 of them at third base. He returned to eastern Pennsylvania to farm and to coach baseball part-time at Franklin and Marshall College, and died there in 2024 at 86.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 167 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 72 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #299 card?
It is card #299 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Wert of the Detroit Tigers.
Is 1962 Topps #299 a rookie card?
Yes - #299 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Don Wert.
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.