1962 Topps #544 Willie McCovey
About Willie McCovey
Card 544 sits in the short-printed seventh series, the scarcest run of the 1962 set, and it reports a season that finally handed McCovey a job. New manager Alvin Dark opened 1961 by naming him the first baseman and moving Orlando Cepeda to right field, though McCovey ended up platooned through much of the summer, starting 79 games and batting .271 with 18 home runs in 106 games. Cepeda, shuttling between first base and left field, led the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBI, and the Giants' logjam was no closer to being solved.
Born in Mobile, Alabama, on January 10, 1938, McCovey signed with the New York Giants in 1955 out of a Florida tryout camp. He reached the majors on July 30, 1959, four-for-four with two triples off Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, and finished at .354 with 13 home runs in 52 games to win National League Rookie of the Year. Six feet four, he was "Stretch" for the reach he gave the Giants at first base, and he grew into a dead-pull line-drive hitter who drew shifts and record intentional walks. He played 19 seasons for San Francisco, with San Diego and Oakland in between. He led the National League in home runs in 1963, 1968 and 1969 and in runs batted in in 1968 and 1969, and his 1969 line of 45 homers, 126 RBI and a .320 average brought the Most Valuable Player award. He made six All-Star teams and homered twice to win the 1969 All-Star Game MVP. His only World Series, in 1962, ended with his ninth-inning liner in the glove of Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, tying and winning runs stranded. He retired in 1980 with 521 home runs, entered the Hall of Fame in 1986 on the first ballot, and gave his name to the cove beyond the Giants' right-field wall.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,417 | 1 | 17 | 194 | 339 | 348 | 235 | 276 | 7 |
| SGC | 450 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 88 | 100 | 109 | 112 | 8 |
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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Related cards
Team card: #226 San Francisco Giants Team
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #9 Jim Davenport
- #18 Managers' Dream
- #33 Don Larsen
- #40 Orlando Cepeda
- #71 Dick LeMay
- #107 Mike McCormick
- #133 Felipe Alou
- #155 Stu Miller
- #188 Chuck Hiller
- #199 Gaylord Perry
- #231 Ernie Bowman
- #247 Joe Pignatano
- #260 Bill Pierce
- #300 Willie Mays
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #544 card?
It is card #544 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants.
Why is #544 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-598) from the seventh print series, distributed last and in the smallest quantity - the toughest cards in the set and home to all 42 short prints and the Rookie Parade. It is also a short print card (42 cards, all in 523-598). Printed in smaller quantity than the rest of the seventh series.
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.