1962 Topps #545 Hoyt Wilhelm
Card-back error: the back gives Wilhelm's birth year as 1923; he was born in 1922.
Uncorrected error: The back gives the wrong birth year - Wilhelm was born in 1922
About Hoyt Wilhelm
The 1962 set gives Wilhelm two cards. His solo issue, #545, is another short-printed seventh-series high number, and its back sets his birth year at 1923, a year late; he was actually born in 1922, a fact not established until after his death. He also appears on #423, a fifth-series combination card, that pairs him with Pittsburgh's Roy Face; the Face write-up on the back credits 68 appearances to the wrong season, which was his 1960 total rather than his 1961. Both follow a 1961 in which Wilhelm went 9-7 with a 2.30 ERA and 18 saves in 51 games, made the All-Star team, and took the loss in the San Francisco All-Star Game when Elston Howard could not hold his knuckler.
Hoyt Wilhelm rode a knuckleball he taught himself as a North Carolina teenager to one of baseball's strangest careers. Born in Huntersville on July 26, 1922 -- a year earlier than the date his cards carried -- he was one of eleven children of tenant farmers. He served in the Army, was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Purple Heart, then pitched the rest of his life with a fragment lodged in his back; his rise to staff sergeant left him the nickname "Old Sarge." He did not reach the majors until age 29, debuting for the New York Giants in April 1952, and homered in his first at-bat, the only home run he ever hit. Working entirely in relief, he won the National League ERA title as a rookie at 2.43, going 15-3, then took a second crown as a Baltimore starter in 1959 at 2.19 and no-hit the Yankees 1-0 on September 20, 1958. He pitched for nine franchises, tying Satchel Paige and Goose Gossage for the most by a Hall of Fame pitcher, and was the first to reach 200 saves and 1,000 games. Twenty-one seasons left him 143-122 with a 2.52 ERA, 227 saves and a record 124 relief wins; in 1985 he became the first reliever elected to Cooperstown.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 444 | 0 | 4 | 76 | 140 | 92 | 64 | 66 | 2 |
| SGC | 112 | 0 | 9 | 22 | 20 | 21 | 19 | 12 | 9 |
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 Hoyt Wilhelm in this set: #423 Combo
Team card: #476 Baltimore Orioles Team
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #6 Marv Breeding
- #34 Johnny Temple
- #45 Brooks Robinson
- #64 Russ Snyder
- #75 Milt Pappas
- #99 John Powell
- #112 Hank Foiles
- #121 Billy Hitchcock
- #134 Billy Hoeft
- #165 Jackie Brandt
- #189 Dick Hall
- #203 Jack Fisher
- #221 Bill Short
- #245 Ron Hansen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #545 card?
It is card #545 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles.
Does 1962 Topps #545 have an error?
The back gives the wrong birth year - Wilhelm was born in 1922. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #545 reads the same way.
Why is #545 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-598) from the seventh print series, distributed last and in the smallest quantity - the toughest cards in the set and home to all 42 short prints and the Rookie Parade. It is also a short print card (42 cards, all in 523-598). Printed in smaller quantity than the rest of the seventh series.
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.