1962 Topps #252 Earl Francis
About Earl Francis
The 1962 season was Francis's best. He made the Opening Day roster, worked scoreless relief through Pittsburgh's record 10-0 start and picked up the win in the seventh of those games, then moved into a rotation spot before two rough July outings pushed him back to the bullpen. A spot start on August 25 at St. Louis produced the only shutout of his career, a three-hit 4-0 win, and he followed it with three straight complete games and the lone home run of his big league life. He set personal bests with 36 games, nine wins, five complete games, 176 innings and a 3.07 ERA. The card is #252 from the third series, a mid-run number.
Earl Coleman Francis, born July 14, 1935 in Slab Fork, West Virginia, was a right-handed pitcher who spent parts of six seasons in the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals between 1960 and 1965. Signed by the Pirates in 1954 out of American Legion ball, he pitched one season in Class D, then served a four-year hitch in the U.S. Air Force, leading Bolling Air Force Base to the service's world title in 1958, before returning to the Pirates system in 1959. He debuted in Pittsburgh on June 30, 1960 and was on the club's World Series championship roster that fall without appearing in the Series. Standing 6-foot-2 and built like a football player, Francis drew praise from manager Danny Murtaugh for having the best fastball and curve on the staff, but recurring arm and shoulder trouble kept him from sustaining that promise. He finished with a 16-23 record, a 3.77 ERA and 263 strikeouts in 103 games and 405 2/3 innings, pitched his last big league game on September 27, 1965, and left organized baseball after the 1966 season. He settled in the Pittsburgh area, worked as a meatcutter, and died there in 2002 at age 66.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 220 | 1 | 6 | 95 | 89 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
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 #252 card?
It is card #252 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Earl Francis of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.