1963 Topps #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
On this card: Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Dick Farrell, Billy O'Dell
About this card
Cards #1-10 are the 1962 League Leaders - the ten cards that open the set, one statistical category per pair with the National League card first and the American League card second: batting (#1-2), home runs (#3-4), earned run average (#5-6), pitching (#7-8) and strikeouts (#9-10).
The story on this card
Card 9 in the 1963 Topps set is a League Leaders board naming the National League's top strikeout pitchers from the 1962 season. Don Drysdale topped the league with 232 strikeouts while going 25-9 for the Los Angeles Dodgers and winning the Cy Young Award. Sandy Koufax, also of the Dodgers, struck out 216 despite a circulatory injury to his pitching hand that sidelined him for over two months. Bob Gibson fanned 208 for St. Louis, and Dick Farrell, in Houston's first season after the Colt .45's took him in the 1961 expansion draft, struck out 203. Billy O'Dell rounded out the group. The card belongs to Topps' 1963 series 1 print run.
Don Drysdale was the Dodgers' intimidating right-hander for 14 seasons, the 1962 Cy Young winner and a three-time World Series champion who in 1968 ran off six straight shutouts and a record 58 2/3 scoreless innings. Sandy Koufax was the Dodgers' left-hander nicknamed 'the Left Arm of God,' whose five-year run of dominance from 1962 to 1966 brought three unanimous Cy Young Awards and four no-hitters, including a perfect game, before an arthritic elbow forced his retirement at 30. Bob Gibson pitched all seventeen of his seasons for the Cardinals, a two-time Cy Young winner and two-time World Series Most Valuable Player whose 1.12 earned run average in 1968 still measures pitching dominance. A fireballing right-hander who spent all 14 of his big-league seasons in the National League, Turk Farrell relieved for the Phillies and Dodgers, then became Houston's first All-Star and its workhorse starter after the 1961 expansion draft. Billy O'Dell was a Clemson-bred lefty who made two All-Star teams with Baltimore and was named most valuable player of the 1958 game, then won a career-high 19 for the pennant-winning 1962 Giants and started Game 1 of that World Series.
Sources: Wikipedia (Don Drysdale) · Wikipedia (Sandy Koufax) · Wikipedia (Bob Gibson) · SABR BioProject (Don Drysdale) · SABR BioProject (Sandy Koufax) · SABR BioProject (Bob Gibson) · SABR BioProject (Turk Farrell) · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,511 | 0 | 35 | 361 | 384 | 325 | 200 | 201 | 5 |
| SGC | 352 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 57 | 97 | 99 | 74 | 4 |
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.
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Related cards
Team cards: #337 Los Angeles Dodgers, #524 St. Louis Cardinals, #312 Houston Colt .45's, #417 San Francisco Giants
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #11 Lee Walls
- #53 Joe Moeller
- #68 Friendly Foes
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #22 Curt Simmons
- #49 Dal Maxvill
- #54 1963 Rookie Stars
- #83 Charley James
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #30 Harvey Kuenn
- #50 Bill Pierce
- #61 Ernie Bowman
- #85 Tom Haller
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #9 card?
It is card #9 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Dick Farrell and Billy O'Dell. Cards #1-10 are the 1962 League Leaders - the ten cards that open the set, one statistical category per pair with the National League card first and the American League card second: batting (#1-2), home runs (#3-4), earned run average (#5-6), pitching (#7-8) and strikeouts (#9-10).
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: 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.