1962 Topps #321 Lee Stange
About Lee Stange
Stange's first full season in the majors came after a 1961 split three ways - a pair of April relief outings, a summer at Triple-A Syracuse, and a September recall that brought his first big-league win. He opened 1962 with a 1.35 ERA over his first six appearances, which earned him a May 5 start against Detroit, a 7-2 win on a seven-hitter and his first nine-inning outing since his 1960 season at Wilson. Four runs in 1 1/3 innings against Kansas City ended the experiment, and Sam Mele sent him back to the bullpen; he finished 4-3 with three saves and a 4.45 ERA over 44 games as the Twins ran second to the Yankees. His 1962 Topps #321, a fourth-series card in Twins flannels, is a recognized rookie card.
Albert Lee Stange, a right-handed pitcher born in Chicago in 1936 and raised in suburban Broadview, spent parts of ten major league seasons (1961-1970) with the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox, finishing 62-61 with a 3.56 ERA and 718 strikeouts in 359 games. Knee injuries at Drake University, where he never played college baseball, pushed him into pro ball with the Washington Senators organization, and he won 20 games for Class B Wilson of the Carolina League in 1960 before breaking in with the Twins in their first Minnesota season. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, he spent his career fending off front-office doubts that a pitcher his size could start, and shuttled between rotation and bullpen for four clubs, making 125 starts among his 359 appearances. His best year came with Boston's 1967 Impossible Dream pennant winners, where he led the staff with a 2.77 ERA and pitched in the World Series. Known around the game as Stinger, he later worked for decades as a pitching coach and minor league instructor for the Red Sox, Twins and Athletics, helping develop Roger Clemens and Bruce Hurst. He died in Florida in 2018 at age 81.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 161 | 0 | 4 | 57 | 62 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #321 card?
It is card #321 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lee Stange of the Minnesota Twins.
Is 1962 Topps #321 a rookie card?
Yes - #321 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Lee Stange.
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.