1963 Topps #384 Bob Tillman
About Bob Tillman
Number 384, in the fifth series, arrived with Tillman installed as Johnny Pesky's number one catcher. Pesky had managed him at Seattle in 1961 and once called him a right-handed Bill Dickey, and he handed him the Opening Day assignment. Tillman played 96 games, started 89 behind the plate, and his .992 fielding mark ranked fourth among American League catchers. The bat and the arm both betrayed him, though. He hit .225 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs, still chasing curveballs out of the strike zone, and he threw out only about 16 percent of runners while allowing a league-high 43 steals.
John Robert Tillman, a 6-foot-4 right-handed catcher born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 24, 1937, caught nine big-league seasons for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1970. Signed out of Middle Tennessee State by Red Sox scout George Digby in January 1958, he climbed through Raleigh, Allentown, Minneapolis, and Seattle before sticking in Boston in 1962. He was the Red Sox Opening Day catcher three years running from 1963, and his 17 home runs in 1964 set a club single-season record for a catcher that stood until Carlton Fisk hit 22 in 1972. Tillman worked behind the plate for two no-hitters, Earl Wilson's in 1962 and Dave Morehead's in 1965. Sold to the Yankees in August 1967, he went to Atlanta that December in the trade that sent Bobby Cox to New York, backing up Joe Torre and then Bob Didier and reaching the postseason when the Braves won the first National League West title in 1969. He retired after 775 games with a .232 average, 79 home runs, and 282 RBIs. He died in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 2000.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 181 | 0 | 8 | 89 | 56 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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: #202 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #28 Mike Fornieles
- #52 Chuck Schilling
- #76 Earl Wilson
- #96 Lou Clinton
- #115 Carl Yastrzemski
- #136 Ike Delock
- #168 Russ Nixon
- #188 Eddie Bressoud
- #216 Gene Conley
- #232 Frank Malzone
- #251 Jack Lamabe
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #285 Dick Stuart
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #384 card?
It is card #384 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Tillman of the Boston Red Sox.
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.