1963 Topps #25 Al Kaline
About Al Kaline
Card #25 opens the 1963 set's first series and reports the season that got away. Kaline was hitting .345 with 13 home runs through 35 games in 1962 when he dove for a game-ending catch off Elston Howard at Yankee Stadium on May 26 and broke his collarbone. Two months out still left him a career-high 29 home runs, 94 runs batted in and a .304 average in 100 games, plus a fifth Gold Glove.
Al Kaline spent his entire 22-season career with the Detroit Tigers, signing out of Baltimore's Southern High School in 1953 and stepping straight into the majors at 18 without a day in the minor leagues. In 1955, at 20, he hit .340 with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in to become the youngest batting champion in big-league history. The long tie to one franchise made him Mr. Tiger. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games and won ten Gold Gloves (1957-1959 and 1961-1967) in right field, where his arm was rated the finest of its day, all of it done on a left foot deformed by childhood osteomyelitis that cost him two inches of bone. His one World Series, in 1968, brought a .379 average, two home runs and eight runs batted in as Detroit beat St. Louis in seven games. He finished with 3,007 hits, 498 doubles, 399 home runs and a .297 average, the twelfth man to reach 3,000 hits, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 on the first ballot with 88.3 percent of the vote. He called Tigers games on television from 1975 to 2002 and worked in the front office until his death in 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 2,248 | 0 | 13 | 243 | 604 | 621 | 345 | 420 | 2 |
| SGC | 701 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 113 | 164 | 170 | 209 | 12 |
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 card: #552 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #10 1962 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #44 Terry Fox
- #64 Dick McAuliffe
- #84 Ron Kline
- #134 Bob Scheffing
- #140 Frank Lary
- #164 Bubba Morton
- #169 1963 Rookie Stars
- #177 Bubba Phillips
- #218 Tiger Twirlers
- #224 Mike Roarke
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #25 card?
It is card #25 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers.
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.