1962 Topps #170 Ron Santo
About Ron Santo
Card #170 sits in the second series, which is why it turns up two ways: the normal printing and the scarcer green-tint version, the work of a second printer running the same plates when Topps needed more of that series. The player on it had just gone .284 with 23 home runs and 83 RBI in 1961, appearing in all 154 games and turning a Cubs-record 41 double plays at third base. Sophomore of the year honors followed.
Ron Santo played third base for the Chicago Cubs from 1960 through 1973 and finished with the crosstown White Sox in 1974. Born in Seattle in 1940, he signed with the Cubs as a free agent in 1959 for a $20,000 bonus and reached the majors a year and three months later. He became the National League's best third baseman of the decade: nine All-Star selections, five straight Gold Gloves from 1964 through 1968, and a bat that produced a .300 average and 30 home runs four times each. From 1963 through 1970 he drove in at least 90 runs eight years running, still the only third baseman in major league history to do it. He led the league in walks four times and set National League career records for assists, total chances and double plays at the position. Santo played the whole time with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed at 18 and kept quiet until a day held in his honor at Wrigley Field in August 1971; the disease later cost him both legs. He called Cubs games on WGN radio from 1990 until his death in 2010 and helped raise tens of millions of dollars for diabetes research. The Golden Era Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in December 2011; he was inducted in 2012.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Print variations
Two states of #170 are tracked individually: 170a - No Green Tint and 170b - 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 170a - No Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 890 | 2 | 11 | 172 | 281 | 184 | 110 | 128 | 2 |
| SGC | 174 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 30 | 44 | 49 | 32 | 2 |
| 170b - Green Tint | |||||||||
| PSA | 192 | 1 | 10 | 36 | 52 | 37 | 24 | 32 | 0 |
| SGC | 29 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #170 card?
It is card #170 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs.
Does 1962 Topps #170 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked separately: 170a - No Green Tint (No green tint - the standard first printing) and 170b - Green Tint (Green tint - the color-shifted second printing of series 2). Owning any one of them fills the #170 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.