1962 Topps #297 Ron Perranoski
About Ron Perranoski
Number 297 is a fourth-series card. The year it is dated to was his breakout as the Dodgers' stopper: a National League-leading 70 appearances, every one of them in relief, a 6-6 record and a 2.85 ERA over 107 1/3 innings. He was stingy to the point of absurdity with the long ball, surrendering exactly one home run all season. On May 19 he gave up Stan Musial's 3,431st hit, the single that pushed the Cardinals star past Honus Wagner for the most in National League history.
Ron Perranoski was a left-handed relief pitcher who spent 13 major league seasons, from 1961 through 1973, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins, with shorter stops in Detroit and California. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, on April 1, 1936, and raised in nearby Fair Lawn, he starred at Michigan State before signing with the Chicago Cubs, and he reached the majors only after a 1960 trade sent him to the Dodgers. Working almost entirely out of the bullpen with a sinking fastball and a sharp curve, he led or shared the National League lead in appearances three times for Los Angeles and won World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1963 and 1965. Traded to Minnesota after the 1967 season, he led the American League in saves in 1969 and in 1970 and was named The Sporting News Fireman of the Year both years. He finished with 79 wins, 178 saves and a 2.79 ERA in 737 games, and he was never chosen for an All-Star team. He later spent 14 seasons as the Dodgers' pitching coach, adding championship rings in 1981 and 1988. He was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and died in 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 226 | 0 | 1 | 41 | 96 | 57 | 15 | 16 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 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. 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 #297 card?
It is card #297 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Perranoski of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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.