1962 Topps #153 Pumpsie Green
The back gives Green's birth year incorrectly; he was born in 1933.
Uncorrected error: The back gives the wrong birth year - Green was born in 1933
About Pumpsie Green
Card #153 comes from the second print series of the 1962 Topps set. Collectors track two states of it, one showing a green tint and one without. The back gives his birth year wrong: Green was born in 1933. It shows him with the Boston Red Sox on the heels of what may have been his best season: in 1961 he set career highs with six home runs, 27 RBIs, 12 doubles and four stolen bases, batting .260 in 88 games, with appendicitis in May costing him about four weeks.
Elijah Jerry Green Jr. was born in Boley, Oklahoma on October 27, 1933 and raised in Richmond, California, where he grew up a fan of the Pacific Coast League's Oakland Oaks. His mother called him Pumpsie early on, and he said he never knew the origin of the name. The switch-hitting infielder signed with the Oaks out of Contra Costa College in 1953, and the Boston Red Sox purchased his contract during the 1955 season. He reached the majors on July 21, 1959, entering at Comiskey Park as a pinch runner to become the first Black player to appear for the Red Sox, the last major league club to integrate; Topps gum customers later voted him the second baseman on the 1959 Major League Rookie All-Star team. Green played second base and shortstop in Boston through 1962, mostly as a semi-regular and pinch runner, then closed his career with the 1963 New York Mets, batting .246 with 13 home runs and 74 RBIs in 344 games. After retiring as a player in 1965 he earned a physical education degree from San Francisco State and spent more than two decades at Berkeley High School in California, coaching baseball and teaching math. He died July 17, 2019 at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Print variations
Two states of #153 are tracked individually: 153a - No Green Tint and 153b - 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.
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 153a - No Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 252 | 0 | 6 | 86 | 109 | 37 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 153b - Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 74 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 35 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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. 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.
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
- #187 Gene Conley
- #201 Ike Delock
- #225 Frank Malzone
- #244 Don Gile
- #276 Hal Kolstad
- #301 Galen Cisco
- #336 Billy Muffett
- #345 Chuck Schilling
- #368 Bob Tillman
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #153 card?
It is card #153 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pumpsie Green of the Boston Red Sox.
Does 1962 Topps #153 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked separately: 153a - No Green Tint (No green tint - the standard first printing) and 153b - Green Tint (Green tint - the color-shifted second printing of series 2). Owning any one of them fills the #153 slot; the master set counts each state.
Does 1962 Topps #153 have an error?
The back gives the wrong birth year - Green was born in 1933. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #153 reads the same way.
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.