1962 Topps #34 Johnny Temple
About Johnny Temple
Temple won the Orioles' second base job in the spring of 1962 but injuries cost him the position in July, and on August 11 Baltimore sold him to the first-year Houston Colt .45s. He hit .263 for both clubs, 71 hits in 78 games as an Oriole with 36 walks against 22 strikeouts, then 25 hits in 31 games for Houston, and finished the year with 109 games, one homer and 29 RBIs. His 1962 Topps card, number 34, is a first-series issue showing him with Baltimore, the club he would leave in August.
Johnny Temple was a scrappy, contact-hitting second baseman who spent thirteen major league seasons (1952-1964) with the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles and Houston Colt .45s. A North Carolina farm boy who signed with Cincinnati after a 1948 tryout camp in Mooresville, he reached the majors in 1952 and grew into the Reds' regular leadoff man and second baseman, teaming with shortstop Roy McMillan on one of the era's best double-play combinations. He played in six All-Star Games out of four selections, 1956, 1957 and both games in each of 1959 and 1961, batted over .300 three times, and finished with a .284 average, 648 walks against 338 strikeouts and 140 stolen bases. His best year came in 1959: .311 with career highs of 102 runs, 186 hits, 35 doubles, eight homers and 67 RBIs. That December Cincinnati traded him to Cleveland for Cal McLish, Gordy Coleman and Billy Martin. Baltimore and Houston followed, then a short, unhappy 1964 turn as a Reds coach that ended in an August clubhouse fight and his firing. Cincinnati put him in the Reds Hall of Fame in 1965.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 272 | 0 | 13 | 133 | 97 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #34 card?
It is card #34 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Temple 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.