1962 Topps #478 Don Zimmer
About Don Zimmer
Topps put Zimmer at 478 in its sixth series for 1962, a plain number in the run, filed with Cincinnati. He reached the Reds the hard way. Left unprotected by the Cubs, he was the expansion Mets' fifth pick in the premium phase of the draft that followed the 1961 season, a $125,000 claim, and he opened New York's first season as Casey Stengel's Opening Day third baseman on April 11 in St. Louis. He managed just four hits in 52 at-bats before the Mets traded him to Cincinnati on May 7 for Cliff Cook and pitcher Bob Miller. Zimmer steadied there, hitting .250 in 63 games as a backup at third and short.
Donald William Zimmer (1931-2014) was a light-hitting, glove-first infielder who signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1949 and spent twelve seasons in the major leagues. A pitch fractured his skull while he was with Triple-A St. Paul in July 1953, left him unconscious for days and forced surgery to relieve the swelling; he was back in the big leagues the following summer, debuting for Brooklyn on July 2, 1954. That winter he was the Caribbean Series MVP for Santurce, batting .400 with three home runs. Zimmer won World Series rings with the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers and the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers, and also played for the Cubs, Mets, Reds and Washington Senators, filling in at second base, third base, shortstop, the outfield and finally catcher. He finished at .235 with 91 home runs and 352 RBI in 1,095 games. He later managed the Padres, Red Sox, Rangers and Cubs, took National League Manager of the Year honors in 1989, and sat beside Joe Torre as Yankees bench coach through their late-1990s title run. The Red Sox and the Rays each elected him to their team halls of fame, and Tampa Bay retired his number 66 in 2015.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 279 | 0 | 12 | 107 | 89 | 37 | 17 | 16 | 1 |
| SGC | 34 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 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
Team card: #465 Cincinnati Reds Team
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- #16 Darrell Johnson
- #41 Cliff Cook
- #80 Vada Pinson
- #103 Don Blasingame
- #120 Bob Purkey
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- #151 Johnny Klippstein
- #171 Dave Sisler
- #172 Fred Hutchinson
- #193 Eddie Kasko
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- #258 Marty Keough
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #478 card?
It is card #478 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Zimmer of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.