1962 Topps #422 Steve Bilko
About Steve Bilko
The Angels left Wrigley Field for brand-new Dodger Stadium in 1962, and the move cost Bilko dearly: in a park with that much room, he cleared the fence at home only twice. Six more homers on the road gave him eight for the year, with 38 RBI and a .287 average in 64 games, mostly pinch-hitting and spot duty at first base. An infected leg wound hospitalized him that August and ended his season on the 14th; he never played another major league game, finishing his career in the minors at Rochester in 1963. Card #422 is a print series 5 card in the 1962 Topps set.
Stephen Thomas Bilko, born November 13, 1928, in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, was a right-handed first baseman who played parts of ten major league seasons between 1949 and 1962 for the Cardinals, Cubs, Redlegs, Dodgers, Tigers, and Angels. Signed by St. Louis out of the Pennsylvania coal country at sixteen, he got his one long look as a regular in 1953, hitting 21 home runs with 84 RBI in 154 games while leading the National League with 125 strikeouts. His real fame came in the Pacific Coast League, where he won three straight MVP awards with the Los Angeles Angels from 1955 through 1957 and took the 1956 PCL Triple Crown with a .360 average, 55 home runs, and 164 RBI. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, he was nicknamed Stout Steve for his ample girth, and the Sgt. Bilko character on Phil Silvers' television show was reportedly named for him. He closed out in the majors with a .249 average, 76 home runs, and 276 RBI in 600 games, and died in 1978 at 49. The Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame took him in 2003, the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2015.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 278 | 0 | 11 | 125 | 104 | 24 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 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. 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 #422 card?
It is card #422 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Bilko of the Los Angeles Angels.
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.