1963 Topps #280 Bob Rodgers
Front carries the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, the cup Topps awarded him for his 1962 season.
About Bob Rodgers
The front of 1963 Topps #280 carries the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, the cup Topps gave him for his 1962 season, and the card is a third-series issue. The season it covered was a step backward. A finger injury cut into his effectiveness and he got into only 100 games, catching 85 of them, batting .233 with four home runs and 23 RBIs while his doubles fell from 34 to six. He kept the job behind the plate all the same, and trade talk that had started the previous winter never came to anything - general manager Fred Haney liked to say his catcher was not for sale.
Robert Leroy "Buck" Rodgers, born August 16, 1938, in Delaware, Ohio, was a basketball star and six-time no-hit pitcher at Prospect High School before Ohio Wesleyan University converted him to catcher. He signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent in 1956, spent five years buried in a farm-system logjam of catchers, and was taken by the Los Angeles Angels in the 1960 expansion draft. Look magazine named him the American Association's top catcher at Dallas-Fort Worth in 1961, and he reached the majors that September, spending all nine of his big-league seasons, 1961 through 1969, with the franchise as it went from the Los Angeles Angels to the California Angels. A 6-foot-2 switch hitter scouted as a fine handler of pitchers, he caught Bo Belinsky's no-hitter in 1962 and was behind the plate when Tony Conigliaro was beaned in 1967, finishing with a .232 average, 704 hits, 288 RBIs and 31 home runs in 932 games. He then coached and managed for years, running the Milwaukee Brewers, Montreal Expos and California Angels and winning National League Manager of the Year in 1987.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 238 | 0 | 11 | 123 | 70 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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 card: #39 Los Angeles Angels
More Los Angeles Angels cards:
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #17 Ryne Duren
- #33 Bo Belinsky
- #57 Billy Moran
- #98 George Thomas
- #114 Dan Osinski
- #117 Jacke Davis
- #167 Jim Fregosi
- #169 1963 Rookie Stars
- #182 Albie Pearson
- #207 Ken Hunt
- #231 Eli Grba
- #249 Leo Burke
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #280 card?
It is card #280 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Rodgers of the Los Angeles Angels.
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.