1963 Topps #163 Don Larsen
About Don Larsen
Card #163, from the second 1963 series, is Larsen's bullpen card. In 1962, his first season with no starts at all, he worked 49 games for the pennant-winning Giants, went 5-4 and saved 11, though his ERA sat at 4.38. Two of those outings became famous. He relieved Juan Marichal in the eighth inning of the deciding playoff game against the Dodgers and got the win that sent San Francisco to the World Series, then picked up another win in relief in Game 4 against the Yankees.
Don James Larsen was a 6-foot-4 right-hander from Michigan City, Indiana, who pitched in the majors between 1953 and 1967 for seven different clubs, finishing 81-91 with a 3.78 ERA in 412 games. He came up with the St. Louis Browns in 1953 and stayed with the franchise when it moved east and became the Baltimore Orioles, losing a league-leading 21 games in 1954. A 17-player trade on November 17, 1954, sent him to the New York Yankees, and there, on October 8, 1956, he threw the only perfect game in World Series history, retiring all 27 Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 and collecting the World Series MVP and Babe Ruth awards. He won titles with the 1956 and 1958 Yankees. After New York came the Kansas City Athletics, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, the Houston Colt .45s and Astros, Baltimore a second time, and finally the Chicago Cubs, with a shift from spot starter to full-time reliever along the way. Cooperstown never called, but the perfect game kept him on the writers' ballot for fifteen years, and San Diego's Breitbard Hall of Fame took him in 1964.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 436 | 2 | 19 | 135 | 135 | 80 | 34 | 31 | 0 |
| SGC | 58 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 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: #417 San Francisco Giants
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #30 Harvey Kuenn
- #50 Bill Pierce
- #61 Ernie Bowman
- #85 Tom Haller
- #106 Bob Bolin
- #128 Matty Alou
- #138 Pride of the N.L.
- #143 World Series Game #2 - Sanford Flashes Shutout Magic
- #145 World Series Game #4 - Hiller Blasts Grand Slammer
- #147 World Series Game #6 - Pierce Stars in 3-Hit Victory
- #169 1963 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #163 card?
It is card #163 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Larsen of the San Francisco Giants.
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.