1962 Topps #481 Vic Wertz
About Vic Wertz
Wertz spent 1962 as Detroit's pinch-hitting specialist, starting only fourteen games at first base yet batting .324 in 105 at-bats with five home runs and 18 RBIs. Fifty-three of those at-bats came in the pinch, where he hit .321 with three home runs and led the majors with seventeen pinch hits. At thirty-seven he was no longer an everyday player, but he was still the bat the Tigers wanted at the plate late in a close game. His card that season is #481, a sixth-series number.
Vic Wertz was a left-handed-hitting outfielder turned first baseman who played seventeen major league seasons from 1947 to 1963, all of them in the American League, with the Detroit Tigers, the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins. Born in York, Pennsylvania and signed by Detroit in 1942 out of Reading High School, he broke out as the Tigers' right fielder in 1949 with 20 home runs and a career-high 133 RBIs, and he made four All-Star teams. Traded from Baltimore to Cleveland in June 1954, he was handed first base and stayed there the rest of his career. He went 8 for 16 in that fall's World Series, yet is remembered for the one he missed: a drive of more than 400 feet in Game One that Willie Mays ran down with his back to the plate. Polio put him in the hospital in August 1955 and ended his season, but he returned in 1956 for a career-high 32 home runs and the Comeback Player of the Year award. He finished with a .277 average, 266 home runs and 1,178 RBIs, built the Vic Wertz Distributing Company in Mount Clemens, Michigan, and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 280 | 0 | 9 | 125 | 100 | 31 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 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.
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: #24 Detroit Tigers Team
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #20 Rocky Colavito
- #62 Steve Boros
- #72 Bob's Pupils
- #87 Mike Roarke
- #92 Sam Jones
- #105 Don Mossi
- #114 Howie Koplitz
- #150 Al Kaline
- #173 Chico Fernandez
- #196 Terry Fox
- #216 Ron Kline
- #250 Norm Cash
- #261 George Alusik
- #299 Don Wert
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #481 card?
It is card #481 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Vic Wertz of the Detroit Tigers.
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.