1963 Topps #48 Birdie Tebbetts
About this card
The nineteen manager cards use the same portrait layout as the players. Twenty clubs, nineteen managers: the Cubs were run by their rotating College of Coaches from 1961 to 1965 and have no manager card.
About Birdie Tebbetts
Card 48 is a first-series card, out early in the 1963 run, and it pictures Tebbetts on his manager card as he opened his first year with the Cleveland Indians. He had signed a three-year contract the previous October to work again for general manager Gabe Paul, saying he felt he owed Paul a long-standing debt. The 1963 Indians went 79-83, level with Detroit and 25 1/2 games behind the Yankees, and the job showed on him: by the end of that season he had been smoking three packs a day for 25 years and his weight had climbed to 238 pounds.
Birdie Tebbetts caught for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians from 1936 to 1952 and was rated the best catcher in the American League in the late 1940s. He did not hit for power and he lacked speed, but he was an exceptional receiver, a smart handler of pitchers and a relentless needler of opposing hitters. Fourteen big league seasons left him with exactly 1,000 hits and a .270 average along with four All-Star selections, and three further seasons went to Army Air Corps service in World War II. He managed the Cincinnati Redlegs from 1954 until he resigned in August 1958, and the 91-63 third-place club he ran in 1956 made him Manager of the Year and landed him on the cover of Time the following July. An executive job with the Milwaukee Braves came next, then a return to the dugout with Milwaukee and Cleveland. He scouted for close to three decades after his managing days, working for the Mets, Yankees and Orioles, and in a 1969 fan poll he was voted the best catcher in Red Sox history.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 196 | 1 | 8 | 80 | 67 | 29 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 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: #451 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #14 Pedro Ramos
- #36 Jerry Kindall
- #72 Johnny Romano
- #103 Chuck Essegian
- #129 Gary Bell
- #152 Ron Nischwitz
- #170 Joe Adcock
- #187 Willie Kirkland
- #211 Fred Whitfield
- #227 Jim Grant
- #228 1963 Rookie Stars
- #248 Tito Francona
- #266 Bob Allen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #48 card?
It is card #48 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Birdie Tebbetts of the Cleveland Indians. The nineteen manager cards use the same portrait layout as the players. Twenty clubs, nineteen managers: the Cubs were run by their rotating College of Coaches from 1961 to 1965 and have no manager card.
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.