1963 Topps #253 1963 Rookie Stars
On this card: Len Gabrielson, Pete Jernigan, Deacon Jones, John Wojcik
Pete Jernigan never reached the major leagues.
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
Gabrielson's first Topps card is 1963 #253, a series-3 Rookie Stars issue and his recognized rookie card, shared with Pete Jernigan, Deacon Jones and John Wojcik across four different organizations; Jernigan never reached the major leagues. Topps had almost nothing of a big league record to print, just a hitless four-game September trial with the 1960 Braves, and he spent that summer back in Milwaukee as a reserve outfielder on Bobby Bragan's sixth-place, 84-78 club. Len Gabrielson was a well-traveled left-handed-hitting outfielder who played for five clubs across nine big league seasons, hitting a career-best .301 for the 1965 Giants and leading the 1968 Dodgers with ten home runs in the Year of the Pitcher.
Card #253 is a Rookie Stars subset issue shared with Len Gabrielson, Deacon Jones, and John Wojcik, spanning the Red Sox, Braves, White Sox, and Athletics organizations; it comes from the set's third print series and is a standard-issue card. Jernigan's small portrait represents him as a Red Sox farmhand; that season he was playing for the AAA Seattle Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League, where a drop in his batting average and a mid-season disciplinary incident led to his being sent to the Dodgers' Albuquerque farm team, for whom he closed the year batting .333. A San Diego prep standout who signed with the Red Sox in 1960 and spent a decade in the high minors, never reaching the majors.
Jones appears on the Chicago White Sox portion of the multi-team 1963 Topps Rookie Stars card #253, which also pictures Len Gabrielson, Pete Jernigan and John Wojcik representing the Milwaukee Braves, Kansas City Athletics and Boston Red Sox. Jones had debuted with the White Sox in September 1962 as a first baseman and pinch hitter, and he returned to Chicago's roster for the 1963 season. A left-handed hitting first baseman from White Plains, New York, Deacon Jones set a Midwest League batting record in the minors before a brief major league career with the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s.
John Wojcik's 1963 Topps card (#253) is part of a multi-player Rookie Stars subset shared with Len Gabrielson, Pete Jernigan, and Deacon Jones, issued in the set's third series. It is a recognized rookie card for Wojcik, who had debuted with the Kansas City Athletics in September of the prior season. In 1962, his rookie year, he appeared in 16 games for the Athletics, batting .302 with 9 RBI and 8 runs scored while playing outfield in 12 of those games. A Kansas City Athletics outfielder from Olean, New York, who reached the majors in 1962 after playing college baseball and basketball at Erie County Technical Institute.
Sources: Wikipedia (Len Gabrielson) · Wikipedia (Deacon Jones (infielder)) · Wikipedia (John Wojcik)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 367 | 1 | 19 | 169 | 109 | 35 | 19 | 12 | 3 |
| SGC | 35 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 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: #202 Boston Red Sox, #503 Milwaukee Braves, #288 Chicago White Sox, #397 Kansas City Athletics
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #28 Mike Fornieles
- #52 Chuck Schilling
- #76 Earl Wilson
- #96 Lou Clinton
- #115 Carl Yastrzemski
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #46 Tommie Aaron
- #62 Bob Hendley
- #73 Bobby Bragan
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #10 1962 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #16 Al Smith
- #35 John Buzhardt
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #23 Ed Lopat
- #51 George Alusik
- #67 Ed Charles
- #82 Ed Rakow
- #104 Lew Krausse
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #253 card?
It is card #253 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Len Gabrielson, Pete Jernigan, Deacon Jones and John Wojcik. 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 #253 a rookie card?
Yes - #253 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Len Gabrielson, Pete Jernigan, Deacon Jones and John Wojcik.
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.