1963 Topps #158 1963 Rookie Stars
On this card: Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts, Bob Saverine, Tommy Harper
About this card
The twenty Rookie Stars cards, four players each and all titled "1963 Rookie Stars", carry the rookie class - Pete Rose on #537, Willie Stargell on #553, Tony Oliva and Ed Kranepool on #228, Rusty Staub on #544, Bill Freehan on #466 and Dave McNally on #562. Three of them (#169, #208, #544) are rookie cards for only some of the men pictured.
The story on this card
This card catches Alvarez between organizations: traded from the Reds to the Senators that November for first baseman Harry Bright, he had been ticketed as Washington's starting first baseman for 1963. Before the season could start, the Cuban government barred him from leaving the island, and he never played for the Senators. Card #158, from the set's second print series, is Alvarez's recognized rookie card, a multi-player Rookie Stars issue he shares with Dave Roberts, Bob Saverine and Tommy Harper. Cuban first baseman who starred for the Havana Sugar Kings and had two short trials with the Cincinnati Reds before a Cuban government travel ban derailed his shot at a starting job.
Roberts spent all of 1963 with Triple-A Oklahoma City, by then shifted into the Pacific Coast League, and his numbers dipped from his September 1962 debut stretch to a .270 average with 16 home runs and 86 RBI. That season also produced his first baseball card: Topps' second series brought card #158, a four-player Rookie Stars issue representing the Orioles, Reds, Colt .45s, and Senators, shared with Rogelio Alvarez, Bob Saverine, and Tommy Harper. It is a recognized rookie card for Roberts, who would not return to a major-league roster until Houston recalled him the following May. A Panamanian first baseman/outfielder who broke in with the 1962 Houston Colt .45s at 29 after a decade in the minors, then became a home-run star in Japan.
Saverine's 1963 Topps Rookie Stars card, #158 from the second series and shared with Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts and Tommy Harper, is his rookie card. He had earned it: hitting .420 in spring training with three exhibition games left, he made the trip north and stuck in Baltimore all year as the jack-of-all-trades the front office had been asking for. Across 115 games he logged 19 at second base, 13 at shortstop, one in left field and 58 in center behind Jackie Brandt and Russ Snyder, batting .234 with eight stolen bases and making only two errors in 192 chances. His first big-league home run came June 19 in Cleveland, a pinch-hit drive off submariner Ted Abernathy. Robert Paul Saverine, a switch-hitting speedster nicknamed Rabbit, played six big-league seasons as a utility infielder-outfielder for Baltimore and Washington, hitting .239 with 6 home runs before a long second career as a stockbroker.
Harper's first Topps card, #158 in the 1963 set's second series, is a four-man Rookie Stars issue spanning four clubs - Orioles, Reds, Colt .45's and Senators - that puts him with Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts and Bob Saverine. It follows a six-game, .174 cup of coffee with Cincinnati in April 1962, after which the Reds optioned him to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League. There he hit .333 with 26 home runs, 84 RBI and 120 runs in 144 games and forced his way back for good. Tommy Harper was a fast Reds-turned-Pilots outfielder who led the American League in stolen bases twice, joined the 30-30 club with Milwaukee in 1970 and made his only All-Star team that year, then stole a club-record 54 bases as Boston's 1973 team MVP.
Sources: Wikipedia (Bob Saverine) · Wikipedia (Tommy Harper) · SABR BioProject (Dave Roberts) · SABR BioProject (Bob Saverine) · SABR BioProject (Tommy Harper)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 361 | 0 | 8 | 140 | 137 | 44 | 17 | 12 | 3 |
| SGC | 31 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 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.
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Related cards
Team cards: #377 Baltimore Orioles, #63 Cincinnati Reds, #312 Houston Colt .45's, #131 Washington Senators
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #12 Steve Barber
- #19 Pete Burnside
- #41 Charlie Lau
- #65 Jackie Brandt
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #21 Marty Keough
- #29 1963 Rookie Stars
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #24 Bob Bruce
- #45 Bob Aspromonte
- #77 Al Spangler
- #99 Jim Umbricht
- #119 Bob Lillis
More Washington Senators cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #47 Don Lock
- #69 Bud Zipfel
- #94 Bob Schmidt
- #121 Jim Hannan
- #149 Marv Breeding
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #158 card?
It is card #158 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts, Bob Saverine and Tommy Harper. The twenty Rookie Stars cards, four players each and all titled "1963 Rookie Stars", carry the rookie class - Pete Rose on #537, Willie Stargell on #553, Tony Oliva and Ed Kranepool on #228, Rusty Staub on #544, Bill Freehan on #466 and Dave McNally on #562. Three of them (#169, #208, #544) are rookie cards for only some of the men pictured.
Is 1963 Topps #158 a rookie card?
Yes - #158 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts, Bob Saverine and Tommy Harper.
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.