1962 Topps #212 Jim Owens
About Jim Owens
Card #212, a third-series issue, reports Owens's 1961 season with the Phillies: 5-10 with a 4.47 ERA in 20 games and 17 starts. He had demanded a trade that spring and spent April and May on the disqualified list. Back in the rotation by late June, he blanked the Giants over six innings on the 26th and Dallas Green finished a 1-0 win that so galled San Francisco manager Alvin Dark he tore the tip off his little finger throwing a stool.
James Philip Owens, nicknamed "Bear" for his stocky build and round face, was a right-handed pitcher who spent parts of twelve seasons between 1955 and 1967 with the Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Houston Colt .45s/Astros. Born in Gifford, Pennsylvania, he signed with Philadelphia out of Bradford High School in 1951, won 22 games in the low minors in 1952 and 22 more for Class B Terre Haute in 1953, and was named the International League's Rookie of the Year in 1954, arriving with what Phillies general manager Roy Hamey called the best curveball in baseball. An Army hitch cost him all of 1957 and all but one game of 1958. His one strong year came in 1959: 12-12 with a 3.21 ERA, 11 complete games, 135 strikeouts and the only shutout of his career for a last-place club. He was also a charter member of the hard-drinking group of Phillies that Sports Illustrated made notorious as the "Dalton Gang" in 1960, and that reputation trailed him for good. He finished 42-68 with a 4.31 ERA, 21 saves and 516 strikeouts in 286 games, then coached Houston's pitchers for six seasons, working with Larry Dierker, Mike Cuellar and Don Wilson.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 181 | 0 | 7 | 82 | 67 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 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: #294 Philadelphia Phillies Team
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #17 Johnny Callison
- #46 Jack Baldschun
- #77 Tony Taylor
- #104 Ted Savage
- #111 Dallas Green
- #146 Don Demeter
- #157 Wes Covington
- #181 Paul Brown
- #220 Roy Sievers
- #249 Ed Keegan
- #269 Bob Oldis
- #284 Ruben Amaro
- #303 Frank Torre
- #328 Ken Walters
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #212 card?
It is card #212 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Owens of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.