1963 Topps #521 Dan Pfister
About Dan Pfister
Card #521 is a seventh-series high number picturing Pfister with the Kansas City Athletics; his rookie card is the 1962 issue. The photo went out on a pitcher who barely pitched. He appeared in only three games in 1963, and the best of them was his lone start, April 27 against Washington: five hits, one run on a Jimmy Piersall homer, one walk and six strikeouts before a back spasm took him out with two outs in the seventh. Surgery on his ailing right elbow followed and cost him the rest of the season, leaving him 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 9 1/3 innings.
Daniel Albin Pfister, a 6-foot, 187-pound right-hander born December 20, 1936, in Plainfield, New Jersey, took the long road to the majors. Scouts did not come calling when he left South Broward High School in Hollywood, Florida, where he had moved to the mound only as a senior in 1954, so he pitched semipro ball around Miami before breaking into professional ball in 1957 and winning 13 games in the Class-C Evangeline League. Two years in the U.S. Army cost him 1959 and part of 1960; discharged that June, he went 13-5 for Shreveport. He debuted for the Kansas City Athletics on September 9, 1961, the first South Broward graduate to reach the big leagues, and his entire eight-season professional career stayed inside the Athletics organization. Over 65 major-league games he went 6-19 with a 4.87 ERA, 156 strikeouts and 142 walks in 249 1/3 innings. Right elbow surgery in 1963 and a balky arm afterward finished him at 28. He went home to Hollywood, worked as a fireman until retiring in 1994, coached baseball five years at Biscayne College, and was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 1997. He died November 9, 2020, at 83.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 269 | 1 | 16 | 117 | 90 | 37 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 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: #397 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #23 Ed Lopat
- #51 George Alusik
- #67 Ed Charles
- #82 Ed Rakow
- #104 Lew Krausse
- #124 Dick Howser
- #157 Diego Segui
- #195 Manny Jimenez
- #214 Orlando Pena
- #236 Bill Bryan
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #256 Jerry Lumpe
- #282 Bob Del Greco
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #521 card?
It is card #521 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dan Pfister of the Kansas City Athletics.
Why is #521 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #512-576 - the last and scarcest run in the set. Price guides often band the highs as #523-576, but the printing break falls between #511 and #512.
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.