1963 Topps #433 Denis Menke
About Denis Menke
1963 Topps #433, a fifth-series card, catches Menke with the Milwaukee Braves in his first full season in the majors. He batted .234 with 11 home runs and again moved all over the diamond, logging more than 80 games at shortstop, more than 50 at second base and better than 20 at third, with a tidy .976 fielding mark at short against .928 at the hot corner. A .364 stretch in late July convinced new manager Bobby Bragan that he needed to find the young infielder one permanent position for 1964.
Denis John Menke was born July 21, 1940, on a 480-acre farm outside Bancroft, Iowa, and signed with the Milwaukee Braves in May 1958 for a bonus reported at between $125,000 and $175,000, one of the largest of the years before the amateur draft. After Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year honors at Vancouver in 1961, he debuted on April 14, 1962, and went on to play 13 major-league seasons for the Braves, Houston Astros and Cincinnati Reds, playing shortstop, second base, third base and first base. He batted .250 with 101 home runs and 606 runs batted in over 1,598 games, and was picked for the National League All-Star team as a shortstop in 1969 and 1970. In November 1971 Houston sent him to Cincinnati in the seven-player deal built around Joe Morgan, and he started at third base for the 1972 pennant winners, homering off Catfish Hunter in Game Five of the World Series and setting a Series record with 29 chances at third without an error. He played his last game July 10, 1974, managed in the minors, then coached in the majors for two decades, including eight seasons as the Philadelphia Phillies' hitting coach. He died December 1, 2020, in Tarpon Springs, Florida, at 80.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 211 | 1 | 13 | 117 | 51 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 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: #503 Milwaukee Braves
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #46 Tommie Aaron
- #62 Bob Hendley
- #73 Bobby Bragan
- #74 Denver Lemaster
- #109 Lee Maye
- #126 Bob Uecker
- #137 Mack Jones
- #156 Roy McMillan
- #179 Ron Piche
- #201 Cecil Butler
- #238 Lou Johnson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #433 card?
It is card #433 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Denis Menke of the Milwaukee Braves.
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.