1962 Topps #449 Jerry Adair
About Jerry Adair
Card #449, deep in the sixth series, follows Adair's first full season in the majors: 133 games, a .264 average, nine home runs and 37 RBI in 1961. He had come to Opening Day still stuck behind veterans Ron Hansen and Marv Breeding, then took the second-base job away from Breeding as the season went on, spelling Hansen at shortstop in 27 games and turning up twice at third. It opened the five-season run in which he was rated one of the American League's premier fielding infielders, overshadowed in Baltimore only by Brooks Robinson.
Kenneth Jerry Adair, born December 17, 1936, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was a sure-handed infielder across 13 major league seasons, 1958-1970, with the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, before a 1971 season in Japan with the Hankyu Braves. A two-sport star at Oklahoma State under basketball coach Hank Iba, he signed with Baltimore for a $40,000 bonus and debuted the same day, September 2, 1958. Called the Iceman in high school for his composure and Casper the Friendly Ghost in the majors, he made his name with the glove: 458 consecutive errorless chances at second base over 89 games in 1964 and 1965, a major league record until Manny Trillo passed it in 1982, and a career .985 fielding mark that bettered Hall of Famers Nellie Fox, Joe Morgan and Bill Mazeroski. He coached Oakland through all three of its championship seasons, 1972-1974, then the California Angels. He died of liver cancer on May 31, 1987, in Tulsa at 50.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 180 | 0 | 15 | 69 | 55 | 31 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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: #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 #449 card?
It is card #449 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Adair of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.