1962 Topps #78 Gene Green
About Gene Green
1962 Topps #78 puts Green on the Cleveland Indians, where he landed on October 5, 1961 when Washington sent him, Dick Donovan and Jim Mahoney over for center fielder Jimmy Piersall. Cleveland used him as a bat off the bench and a part-time right fielder, with three games in left and two at first base, and he made it pay: 11 home runs in only 143 at-bats and a .552 slugging percentage. On August 12 he hit two home runs against his old Washington club and drove in four. His .280 average sat one point under his 1958 career high. This is a series 1 card.
Gene Leroy Green was a right-handed outfielder and catcher, born in Los Angeles on June 26, 1933 and signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1952. He spent six full years in the Cardinals' farm system, clearing 20 home runs four times, before he debuted for St. Louis on September 10, 1957. A full 1958 season followed and became his high-water mark for playing time: 137 games, 124 hits and a .281 average, with 71 starts in right field and 48 behind the plate. He slipped to .189 in 30 games in 1959 and was traded to Baltimore that December, going with Chuck Staniland for Bob Nieman; the Orioles then kept him at Triple-A for all of 1960 except one September game. American League expansion handed him a second chance, and he spent his last three seasons as a power bat and spare catcher in Washington, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Seven big-league seasons left him at .267 with 46 home runs and 160 RBI in 408 games; he was often a pinch hitter and was below average in the outfield. He spent 1964 in the minors before leaving the game, and died in St. Louis in 1981 at 47.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 312 | 0 | 20 | 127 | 119 | 33 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 27 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #537 Cleveland Indians Team
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #15 Dick Donovan
- #37 Tribe Hill Trio
- #49 Hal Jones
- #97 Tito Francona
- #123 Mike de la Hoz
- #145 Barry Latman
- #182 Bob Nieman
- #215 Woody Held
- #224 Don Rudolph
- #242 Mel McGaha
- #253 Harry Chiti
- #273 Gary Bell
- #292 Jerry Kindall
- #307 Jim Grant
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #78 card?
It is card #78 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gene Green of the Cleveland Indians.
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.