1963 Topps #468 Carroll Hardy
About Carroll Hardy
On December 10, 1962, Boston shipped Hardy to the Houston Colt .45's straight up for veteran outfielder Dick Williams, moving him to the National League's second-year expansion club. The stay was short. Hardy got into just 15 games for Houston in 1963, batting .227 with 10 hits in 44 at-bats, and made his final appearance of the season on May 8 before being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he hit .316 with 16 home runs in 123 games. One early highlight survives: on April 14 he drove in the tying run and scored the winner in a 5-4 Houston victory over Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers. Card 468 comes from the sixth series of the 1963 Topps set, a semi-high number, and shows Hardy with Houston.
Carroll Hardy was a two-sport athlete out of Sturgis, South Dakota, who earned 12 letters in football, baseball and track at the University of Colorado and was named MVP of the January 1955 Hula Bowl as a college all-star. A third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1955 NFL draft, he played one pro season as a halfback, catching 12 passes for four touchdowns, then gave up football for baseball after a stint in the Army. Hardy appeared in parts of eight major league seasons between 1958 and 1967 as a reserve outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Houston Colt .45's and Minnesota Twins, batting .225 with 17 home runs and 113 RBI in 433 games. His numbers never made him a regular, but a handful of pinch-hitting assignments for future Hall of Famers turned him into one of the game's enduring trivia answers. He managed in the Twins' farm system in 1968, then spent about two decades in the Denver Broncos' front office as a scout, player personnel director and assistant general manager, a run that took in the Orange Crush defense and three Super Bowl teams. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 and died in 2020 at 87.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 280 | 0 | 12 | 146 | 87 | 28 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 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: #312 Houston Colt .45's
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #24 Bob Bruce
- #45 Bob Aspromonte
- #77 Al Spangler
- #99 Jim Umbricht
- #119 Bob Lillis
- #141 Manny Mota
- #153 Hal Smith
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #189 Dave Giusti
- #204 Don Nottebart
- #208 1963 Rookie Stars
- #230 Pete Runnels
- #262 Ellis Burton
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #468 card?
It is card #468 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Carroll Hardy of the Houston Colt .45's.
Why is #468 harder to find?
It is a semi-high card from the sixth print series, #447-511 - the run where the set's short prints sit. Scarcer than series 1-5, easier than series 7.
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.