1962 Topps #512 Mike Fornieles
About Mike Fornieles
Topps gave Fornieles card #512 in 1962, a sixth-series number, still in Boston flannels. It followed the season that brought his one All-Star honor: eight saves at the break put him on Paul Richards' American League squad for the July 11 game at Candlestick Park, where George Altman homered off him before he retired Willie Mays and handed off to Hoyt Wilhelm. He also set a career high with fifteen saves in 1961 and hit the only home run of his career, off Detroit's Paul Foytack on September 8. By the summer of 1962 rookie Dick Radatz had taken over the Boston closer's job.
Jose Miguel Fornieles y Torres was born January 18, 1932, in Havana, Cuba, signed with the Washington Senators out of amateur ball, and debuted on September 2, 1952, at age twenty with a one-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Athletics. Washington traded him to the Chicago White Sox that winter for Chuck Stobbs. He moved to Baltimore in a six-player swap in May 1956, then to the Boston Red Sox on June 14, 1957, for infielder Billy Goodman. Boston used the right-hander as a starter at first, then turned him into its bullpen ace: he pitched only in relief from 1959 on, and in 1960 he set an American League record with seventy relief appearances, led the league with 48 games finished, tied for the AL save lead, and won the first Sporting News American League Fireman of the Year Award. His lone All-Star selection came in 1961. In Cuban League winters with Marianao he was Rookie of the Year and an ERA champion, and he pitched the Tigres to back-to-back Caribbean Series titles. He finished 63-64 with 55 saves and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1998 at 66.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 188 | 0 | 21 | 62 | 69 | 23 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #334 Boston Red Sox Team
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #3 Pete Runnels
- #35 Don Schwall
- #81 Jim Pagliaroni
- #101 Carroll Hardy
- #117 Gary Geiger
- #153 Pumpsie Green
- #187 Gene Conley
- #201 Ike Delock
- #225 Frank Malzone
- #244 Don Gile
- #276 Hal Kolstad
- #301 Galen Cisco
- #336 Billy Muffett
- #345 Chuck Schilling
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #512 card?
It is card #512 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike Fornieles of the Boston Red Sox.
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.