1963 Topps #437 Bill Bruton
About Bill Bruton
The 1963 Topps run reached Bruton at #437, a fifth-series card. Into his late thirties he was still Detroit's everyday center fielder, starting 126 games out there and appearing in 145 overall. The bat cooled -- .256 with eight home runs and 48 RBIs -- but he drew 59 walks, legged out eight triples and scored 84 runs, and he posted a .991 fielding percentage in center field, the best full-season mark of his career at the position.
Bill Bruton was a center fielder who reached the majors in 1953 at age 27 with the Milwaukee Braves, the year the franchise moved over from Boston. Blessed with exceptional speed, he led the National League in stolen bases in each of his first three seasons, and later added two triples titles and a runs-scored crown in 1960. He played on the pennant-winning 1957 and 1958 Braves, sitting out the 1957 World Series title run with a torn knee ligament and then starring in 1958, when his tenth-inning single won Game 1 and he batted .412 across seven games the Braves lost to the Yankees. In December 1960 Milwaukee traded him to the Detroit Tigers in a multi-player deal centered on Frank Bolling, and he closed a twelve-year career in Detroit from 1961 through 1964, finishing with a .273 average, 94 home runs, 545 RBIs and 207 stolen bases. His father-in-law was Judy Johnson, the Negro Leagues third baseman elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975, whose counsel shaped his development. Bruton spent 23 years as a Chrysler executive after baseball and was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 1991.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 182 | 0 | 11 | 101 | 54 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 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 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
- #25 Al Kaline
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #437 card?
It is card #437 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Bruton 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.