1963 Topps #189 Dave Giusti
About Dave Giusti
Topps printed card 189 in the second series while Giusti spent all of 1963 back in the minors, sound again after the operation on his elbow. Working for Triple-A Oklahoma City under Grady Hatton, later his manager in Houston, he went 13-11 with a 2.72 ERA across 202 innings, the bounce-back workload that put him back in line for a big-league job. His rookie card is the 1962 issue.
Dave Giusti was a right-handed pitcher from Seneca Falls, New York who played fifteen major league seasons between 1962 and 1977. A three-sport star at North Syracuse High School, he pitched and played basketball at Syracuse University, then signed with the expansion Houston Colt .45's in June 1961 as one of the club's first bonus babies. He spent most of the 1960s in Houston's rotation until an October 1968 trade sent him to St. Louis, and a year later the Cardinals dealt him to Pittsburgh. The Pirates turned him into a relief pitcher in 1970, and his palmball made him the closer for a club that won five National League East titles in six seasons, including the 1971 World Series, where he saved Game Four. He led the National League with 30 saves in 1971 and took The Sporting News reliever of the year award; his lone All-Star selection came in 1973. He finished with Oakland and the Chicago Cubs in 1977, retiring at 100-93 with 145 saves and a 3.60 ERA. A member of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, Giusti later worked in corporate sales for American Express and lived outside Pittsburgh until his death in January 2026.
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 | 222 | 2 | 7 | 110 | 72 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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
- #204 Don Nottebart
- #208 1963 Rookie Stars
- #230 Pete Runnels
- #262 Ellis Burton
- #277 Dick Farrell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #189 card?
It is card #189 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Giusti of the Houston Colt .45's.
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.