1963 Topps #236 Bill Bryan
About Bill Bryan
Topps put Bryan in the 1963 set at number 236, a third-series card and his recognized rookie card. It followed a monster Double-A season in the Texas League in 1962, where he hit .295 with 25 home runs and 85 RBI. The 1963 year itself was another brief one in Kansas City: 24 games, 22 of them starts behind the plate, and a .169 average with three home runs and seven RBI in only 65 at-bats. Three homers in that little work hinted at the left-handed power that had carried him up the ladder, but the everyday catching job in Kansas City would not be his until 1965.
William Ronald Bryan, a left-handed hitting catcher from Morgan, Georgia, signed with the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1960 and reached the majors barely a year later, debuting on September 12, 1961. A tall backstop at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, he spent parts of six seasons with Kansas City, splitting the catching between 1962 and 1964 with Doc Edwards, Charlie Lau and Joe Azcue before taking the regular job. A June 1966 trade sent him to the New York Yankees, where he worked behind Elston Howard and Jake Gibbs, and the Washington Senators took him from New York in the Rule 5 draft after the 1967 season for his final big league year. Over eight seasons and 374 games he hit .216 with 209 hits, 41 home runs and 125 RBI, throwing out 47 base stealers and fielding .984 behind the plate. He died on April 9, 2026 in Opelika, Alabama, at the age of 87.
Sources: Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 149 | 0 | 5 | 72 | 49 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 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 card: #397 Kansas City Athletics
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
- #124 Dick Howser
- #157 Diego Segui
- #195 Manny Jimenez
- #214 Orlando Pena
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #256 Jerry Lumpe
- #282 Bob Del Greco
- #301 Bill Fischer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #236 card?
It is card #236 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Bryan of the Kansas City Athletics.
Is 1963 Topps #236 a rookie card?
Yes - #236 is the 1963 Topps rookie card of Bill Bryan.
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.