1963 Topps #27 Choo Choo Coleman
About Choo Choo Coleman
Card #27 is a first-series 1963 issue, and it catches Coleman coming off the best season of his career. Cut in the Mets' first spring and sent to Triple-A Syracuse, he was recalled that July and landed in the middle of the 40-120 inaugural season. In his first start he bunted for a hit and scored the only run of a 1-0 win over Bob Gibson, and he finished 1962 at .250 with career bests of six home runs and 17 RBIs in 55 games as Casey Stengel leaned on him more and more behind the plate.
Clarence Coleman, the catcher everyone called Choo-Choo, signed in 1955 with his hometown Orlando club, a Class D Washington Senators affiliate, spent part of 1956 barnstorming with the Indianapolis Clowns, then climbed the Los Angeles Dodgers chain from Class D Orlando to Class A Macon to Triple-A Montreal by 1960. A left-handed hitter who threw right and drew praise for his arm, he was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies with the first pick of the November 1960 Rule 5 draft and debuted on April 16, 1961, hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance. The expansion New York Mets took him in the October 1961 draft, and he caught in parts of three Mets seasons - 1962, 1963 and 1966 - becoming one of the best-loved figures of the franchise's early years. Over four big-league seasons he batted .197 with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs in 201 games. Afterward he cooked and helped run a Chinese restaurant owned by his wife's family in Newport News, Virginia, then retired to South Carolina, where he died in 2016.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 303 | 0 | 3 | 74 | 118 | 74 | 20 | 13 | 1 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 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: #473 New York Mets
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #27 card?
It is card #27 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Choo Choo Coleman of the New York Mets.
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.