1962 Topps #117 Gary Geiger
About Gary Geiger
Card #117 is a series-2 issue that comes two ways, and collectors chase both: the ordinary printing and the green-tint printing, where a wash of green runs through the photo. Behind it sits 1961, the fullest year Geiger ever had - 140 games, 18 home runs, 64 RBIs and 87 walks - and the August 8 swing that made him one of only three Red Sox ever to hit an inside-the-park grand slam at Fenway, this one off Camilo Pascual.
Gary Merle Geiger grew up in the farm country around Sand Ridge, Illinois, and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher two days after his 1954 high school graduation, for the largest bonus a club could pay a player it did not put straight on its major-league roster. The Cardinals turned him into a left-handed-hitting outfielder, then left him unprotected, and Cleveland took him in the December 1957 Rule 5 draft; he debuted on Opening Day 1958. A year later he went to Boston in the trade that sent Jimmy Piersall to Cleveland, and he became the Red Sox center fielder, leading the club with 18 home runs in 1961. Injury kept interrupting him: a pitch that collapsed a lung in 1960, a wall collision in 1962, ulcer surgery that briefly ended his career in 1964, and a broken hand in 1965. He spent two part-time seasons with Atlanta and closed out in Houston, finishing twelve seasons at .246 with 77 home runs and 283 RBIs. He later managed in the Cardinals farm system and died in 1996 at 59.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Print variations
Two states of #117 are tracked individually: 117a - No Green Tint and 117b - Green Tint. The difference is on the front of the card (green tint).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 117a - No Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 167 | 0 | 1 | 42 | 67 | 41 | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 117b - Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 53 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation. 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: #334 Boston Red Sox Team
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- #201 Ike Delock
- #225 Frank Malzone
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #117 card?
It is card #117 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gary Geiger of the Boston Red Sox.
Does 1962 Topps #117 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked separately: 117a - No Green Tint (No green tint - the standard first printing) and 117b - Green Tint (Green tint - the color-shifted second printing of series 2). Owning any one of them fills the #117 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.