1963 Topps #296 Doc Edwards
About Doc Edwards
Card #296 is a fourth-series card and it catches Edwards in a Cleveland uniform he was about to lose. He opened 1963 as the Indians' backup catcher, started all 10 of his games behind the plate and hit .258 in 31 at-bats with no home runs or RBIs. On May 25 Cleveland sent him and $100,000 to the Kansas City Athletics for catcher Joe Azcue and shortstop Dick Howser. The A's then handed him the bulk of the work: 58 starts, more than any other Kansas City catcher took that year, and a .250 average with six home runs and 35 RBIs in 240 at-bats.
Howard Rodney Edwards (December 10, 1936 - August 20, 2018) was a right-handed catcher from Red Jacket, West Virginia, a coal-mining town near the Kentucky border where his father worked the mines. He earned the nickname Doc during two Navy years as a medical corpsman stationed at Camp Pendleton with the 5th Marines, who call for a corpsman by shouting Doc rather than medic. Discharged in 1957 at 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds, he took a football scholarship to MiraCosta College, then signed a $500 contract in 1958 with Ralph Kiner, the future Hall of Fame slugger then running Cleveland's Pacific Coast League club in San Diego, who ordered him to run five miles a day until the weight came off. Four minor-league seasons followed, including a .331 year for Triple-A Salt Lake City in 1961 that ranked second in the league. Edwards caught parts of five big-league seasons spanning nine years for the Indians, Athletics, Yankees and Phillies, batting .238 with 15 home runs and 87 RBIs in 317 games. In 1970 the Phillies activated their own bullpen coach after both catchers broke a hand in the same inning, and he caught 34 more games at .269. He managed Cleveland from 1987 to 1989 and stayed in the game 57 years.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 186 | 1 | 9 | 92 | 59 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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: #451 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #14 Pedro Ramos
- #36 Jerry Kindall
- #48 Birdie Tebbetts
- #72 Johnny Romano
- #103 Chuck Essegian
- #129 Gary Bell
- #152 Ron Nischwitz
- #170 Joe Adcock
- #187 Willie Kirkland
- #211 Fred Whitfield
- #227 Jim Grant
- #228 1963 Rookie Stars
- #248 Tito Francona
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #296 card?
It is card #296 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Doc Edwards of the Cleveland Indians.
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.