1963 Topps #291 Don Rudolph
About Don Rudolph
Card 291, from the fourth series, catches Rudolph at his high-water mark. He was the first Senator to sign for 1963 and predicted he would open the season and win 20 games; he was right about the first part. Starting Washington's Presidential Opener on April 8, the last one President Kennedy would see, he went five innings and lost 3-1, beaten by home runs from Baltimore's Jim Gentile and Boog Powell. His seventh win, on August 4, left him 7-11. He then lost his last eight decisions and finished 7-19 with a 4.55 ERA across 37 games and 174 innings for a club that went 56-106 and landed last. One consolation: he fielded his position flawlessly and led American League pitchers at 1.000.
Frederick Donald Rudolph, a left-hander out of Baltimore, turned pro in 1950 and won 41 games in two seasons for Class D Jesup before the White Sox bought his contract. Army service cost him the 1953 season, and he did not reach the majors until a September 1957 call-up in Chicago. He shuttled between the White Sox, Indianapolis and Louisville before a May 1959 trade sent him to Cincinnati, then rebuilt his stock in the minors, leading the Pacific Coast League with a 2.42 ERA for Seattle in 1960 and taking American Association Player of the Month honors for August 1961 at Indianapolis. Cleveland grabbed him in the Rule 5 draft after 1961 and dealt him to the expansion Washington Senators in May 1962, where he finally won a rotation spot. He was one of the quickest workers in the league - seven of his 23 starts in 1962 took under two hours - and is credited with inspiring the 1963 rule that cut warm-up pitches between innings to five. Off the field he was the husband and manager of burlesque dancer Patti Waggin. He went 18-32 with a 4.00 ERA over six big-league seasons, pitched two more years in the minors, and was killed in 1968, at 37, when his truck overturned near his Granada Hills, California, home.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 163 | 0 | 4 | 57 | 63 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 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: #131 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #47 Don Lock
- #69 Bud Zipfel
- #94 Bob Schmidt
- #121 Jim Hannan
- #149 Marv Breeding
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #171 Steve Hamilton
- #176 Jim King
- #219 Chuck Cottier
- #243 Don Leppert
- #263 Dave Stenhouse
- #276 Barry Shetrone
- #311 Joe McClain
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #291 card?
It is card #291 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Rudolph of the Washington Senators.
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.