1963 Topps #549 1963 Rookie Stars
On this card: Marcelino Lopez, Pete Lovrich, Elmo Plaskett, Paul Ratliff
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
Topps put Lopez on card #549 in 1963, a Rookie Stars panel of four first-year men spread across four clubs - Philadelphia, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Minnesota - alongside Pete Lovrich, Elmo Plaskett and Paul Ratliff. It lands in the seventh series, the high numbers that close out the set, and it is his recognized rookie card. The 19-year-old lefty had pitched his way onto the Phillies that spring after impressing manager Gene Mauch, and he beat St. Louis on April 20 for the only big-league win of his four-game rookie year. An elbow injury followed within the week, and he spent the rest of 1963 in the minors. Cuban-born left-hander who broke in with the Phillies in 1963, then reinvented himself as a steady Baltimore Orioles reliever, helping the club win the 1970 World Series before finishing his career with Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Card #549 is a four-player Rookie Stars panel on which no two subjects share a uniform: Marcelino Lopez of the Phillies, Lovrich of the Athletics, Elmo Plaskett of the Pirates and Paul Ratliff of the Twins. It sits in the seventh and final series, the high numbers Topps ran off in the smallest quantities of any 1963 series, and it is Lovrich's recognised rookie card. The summer behind it opened on April 26, when he came out of the bullpen for a perfect eighth inning against Washington in his debut, and peaked on July 15 against the eventual pennant-winning Yankees: a scoreless twelfth, then a bunt that pushed a runner into scoring position before Kansas City walked off an 11-10 win. A right-hander whose entire major-league career was 20 games for the 1963 Kansas City Athletics, 1-1 with a 7.84 ERA, and who became the first Arizona State Sun Devil to reach the big leagues.
Plaskett's panel carries the Pirates, the club he broke in with the previous September after leading the South Atlantic League in hitting at .349 with 27 home runs for Asheville, a season that earned him a late-1962 call-up and a spot on Pittsburgh's 28-man squad to start 1963. A Virgin Islands catcher who signed with the Pirates in 1957, won South Atlantic League batting and home run honors in 1962, and later became a beloved figure in St. Croix youth baseball.
Ratliff's card comes from the seventh and final print series of 1963 Topps, a high number that doubles as his rookie card. It arrived the same spring he made Minnesota's Opening Day roster as a nineteen-year-old catcher fresh off signing as an amateur free agent the year before; he went on to appear in ten games for the Twins that season before a return trip to the minors. Card #549 is a four-player Rookie Stars panel, shared with Marcelino Lopez, Pete Lovrich, and Elmo Plaskett. San Diego-born catcher who debuted with the Twins at nineteen in 1963, later split catching duties in Minnesota's 1970 playoff run, and closed his career with the Brewers.
Sources: Wikipedia (Pete Lovrich) · Wikipedia (Elmo Plaskett) · Wikipedia (Paul Ratliff) · SABR BioProject (Marcelino Lopez) · SABR BioProject (Elmo Plaskett)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 244 | 0 | 3 | 84 | 93 | 37 | 16 | 9 | 2 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
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: #13 Philadelphia Phillies, #397 Kansas City Athletics, #151 Pittsburgh Pirates, #162 Minnesota Twins
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #29 1963 Rookie Stars
- #32 Tony Gonzalez
- #56 Dennis Bennett
- #71 Bobby Wine
- #91 Dallas Green
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
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #10 1962 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #26 Ray Moore
- #40 Vic Power
- #75 Bob Allison
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #549 card?
It is card #549 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Marcelino Lopez, Pete Lovrich, Elmo Plaskett and Paul Ratliff. 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 #549 a rookie card?
Yes - #549 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Marcelino Lopez, Pete Lovrich, Elmo Plaskett and Paul Ratliff.
Why is #549 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #512-576 - the last and scarcest run in the set. Price guides often band the highs as #523-576, but the printing break falls between #511 and #512.
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.