1963 Topps #344 Don Schwall
About Don Schwall
Card 344 is a fourth-series number in 1963 Topps, but it is the first Topps card to list Schwall with Pittsburgh. Behind it sat a hard second year in Boston: 9-15 with a 4.94 ERA, more walks (121) than strikeouts (89), and five complete games in 32 starts. On November 20, 1962 the Red Sox packaged him with catcher Jim Pagliaroni and sent both to the Pirates for slugging first baseman Dick Stuart and pitcher Jack Lamabe. Pittsburgh scout Howie Haak had bid for Schwall five years earlier and been outbid by Boston; he got his man at last.
Don Schwall was born March 2, 1936 in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, just outside Wilkes-Barre, and grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where basketball was his principal sport. A 6-foot-6 center at the University of Oklahoma, he met Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas teams three times and in one February 1957 meeting outscored him 30 points to 11, but he pitched only sparingly for the Sooners before Red Sox scout Wog Rice signed him in December 1957 for what Rice called the largest bonus ever paid an Oklahoman. Three minor league summers followed: 23-6 at Class D Alpine in 1959, then 16-9 for Triple-A Minneapolis in 1960 as a teammate of Carl Yastrzemski, who would be his Boston roommate the next spring. Called up in May 1961, Schwall won his first six decisions, pitched in that season's second All-Star Game, and was voted American League Rookie of the Year. A sub-par 1962 sent him to Pittsburgh, where he worked as both starter and reliever until a June 1966 trade to Atlanta. He finished 49-48 with 408 strikeouts and a 3.72 ERA over seven seasons, then built a second career as an investment banker.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 182 | 0 | 10 | 74 | 61 | 27 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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: #151 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #18 Buc Blasters
- #34 Dick Schofield
- #55 Bill Virdon
- #87 Bob Veale
- #101 Joe Gibbon
- #122 Julio Gotay
- #159 Jim Pagliaroni
- #169 1963 Rookie Stars
- #184 Vern Law
- #215 Bob Skinner
- #228 1963 Rookie Stars
- #239 Harvey Haddix
- #259 Johnny Logan
- #281 Tom Sturdivant
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #344 card?
It is card #344 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Schwall of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.