1962 Topps #159 Hal Reniff
The number Topps meant for Reniff all along, and the one card in the second series with no green tint counterpart: his green-tint printing went out under number 139 instead.
About Hal Reniff
Army duty cost Reniff the first half of 1962 and a sore shoulder cost the rest: two Yankee appearances, 3.2 innings, and six more innings back at Richmond. Topps still gave him three cards in the second series. The portrait #139a and the pitching pose #139b both carry printed number 139, shared with the Babe Ruth Special 'Babe Hits 60', while #159 was his intended slot. All three are rookie cards, the two at 139 the key ones.
Harold Eugene Reniff was a right-handed relief pitcher, born in Warren, Ohio, on July 2, 1938, who signed with the New York Yankees in 1956 out of Chaffey High School in Ontario, California. Five full years in the minors followed, the best of them a 21-7 record for Modesto of the Class C California League, before New York called him up from Richmond in June 1961. He debuted on June 8, went 2-0 with a 2.58 earned run average across 25 games, and collected a championship ring that October without appearing in the Series. Army duty and a sore shoulder wiped out nearly all of the next season, but he came back to hold the Yankee bullpen for four years. His best was 1963: 18 saves, sixth in the American League, and a 2.62 ERA over 48 games. He worked three scoreless innings in the 1963 World Series and a third of an inning in 1964, earning no decision and no save in either. New York sold him to the crosstown Mets in June 1967 and he finished there. Over 276 major-league games, every one in relief, he went 21-23 with 45 saves, 314 strikeouts and a 3.27 ERA. Five more seasons at Triple-A Syracuse followed; he retired after 1972 and died in Ontario, California, in 2004.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 263 | 0 | 1 | 60 | 112 | 48 | 28 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 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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Related cards
More Hal Reniff in this set: #139a, #139b
Team card: #251 New York Yankees Team
More New York Yankees cards:
- #1 Roger Maris
- #18 Managers' Dream
- #31 Tom Tresh
- #48 Ralph Terry
- #65 Bobby Richardson
- #88 Ralph Houk
- #93 John Blanchard
- #110 Bill Skowron
- #136 Babe Ruth Special: Babe Joins Yanks
- #137 Babe Ruth Special: Babe and Mgr. Huggins
- #138 Babe Ruth Special: The Famous Slugger
- #139a Hal Reniff
- #139b Hal Reniff
- #139c Babe Ruth Special: Babe Hits 60
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #159 card?
It is card #159 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hal Reniff of the New York Yankees.
Is 1962 Topps #159 a rookie card?
Yes - #159 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Hal Reniff.
Why does #159 have no green-tint version?
Every other number from #110 to #196 exists in a green-tint second printing. #159 is the number Topps meant for Hal Reniff all along; his green-tint printing went out under #139 instead, where two Reniff poses share the number with the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special.
How many Hal Reniff cards are in the 1962 Topps set?
Three: the portrait pose (139a) and the pitching pose (139b), both printed with number 139 alongside the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, and the reissue at #159, the number Topps meant for him all along. All three are his 1962 rookie-year cards.
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.