1962 Topps #131 Pete Richert
About Pete Richert
The debut got the headlines; the rest of 1962 was a grind. Richert could not crack a Los Angeles rotation of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres and Stan Williams, and two months in he was sent to Omaha, where his arm felt like it snapped on a pitch and he had to talk himself into cutting loose again. Recalled, he made 12 starts among 19 games and finished 5-4 with a 3.87 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 81 1/3 innings while the Dodgers blew first place and lost a three-game playoff to San Francisco. Card #131 is a second-series issue and his recognized rookie card; collectors chase it in two states, with and without the green tint.
Peter Gerard Richert, born October 29, 1939 in Floral Park, New York, was a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher who spent thirteen seasons in the majors with the Dodgers, Senators, Orioles, Cardinals and Phillies. A Sewanhaka High School product off Long Island who signed for a $2,000 bonus, he announced himself on April 12, 1962 by striking out the first six batters he faced in relief for Los Angeles, a major league record, and he remains the only pitcher to strike out four men in one inning in his debut. He was a two-time All-Star as a Washington starter in 1965 and 1966 before Baltimore moved him to the bullpen, where he pitched for three straight pennant winners from 1969 through 1971 and earned a ring with the 1970 champions; he collected another in 1963 with the Dodgers without throwing a pitch in that Series. Richert finished 80-73 with a 3.19 ERA and 925 strikeouts, retiring after a blood clot in his pitching arm surfaced late in the 1974 season.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Print variations
Two states of #131 are tracked individually: 131a - No Green Tint and 131b - Green Tint. The difference is on the front of the card (green tint).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 131a - No Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 283 | 0 | 5 | 113 | 117 | 31 | 12 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 131b - Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 61 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation. 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: #43 Los Angeles Dodgers Team
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #5 Sandy Koufax
- #32 John Roseboro
- #69 Phil Ortega
- #108 Willie Davis
- #129 Lee Walls
- #175 Frank Howard
- #190 Wally Moon
- #197 Daryl Spencer
- #217 Walt Alston
- #238 Norm Sherry
- #280 Johnny Podres
- #297 Ron Perranoski
- #340 Don Drysdale
- #348 Larry Burright
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #131 card?
It is card #131 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Richert of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Is 1962 Topps #131 a rookie card?
Yes - #131 is the 1962 Topps rookie card of Pete Richert.
Does 1962 Topps #131 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked separately: 131a - No Green Tint (No green tint - the standard first printing) and 131b - Green Tint (Green tint - the color-shifted second printing of series 2). Owning any one of them fills the #131 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.