1963 Topps #82 Ed Rakow
About Ed Rakow
Card #82 lands in the 1963 set's first series and catches Rakow at his peak. Kansas City pitching coach Eddie Lopat made him a personal project in the spring of 1962, manager Hank Bauer handed him the Opening Day ball, and on April 10 he answered with a complete-game 4-2 win over Minnesota that ended Harmon Killebrew's home-run streak against the A's. He went on to lead the club in wins (14), starts (35), complete games (11), shutouts (2), innings (235 1/3) and strikeouts (159), blanking Washington 1-0 twice along the way. The same summer tied him for the American League lead in losses with 17 and left him with a league-high 111 earned runs allowed, plus 31 home runs surrendered.
Edward Charles Rakow, born in Pittsburgh on May 30, 1935, was a 5-foot-11 right-hander who pitched parts of seven big-league seasons between 1960 and 1967 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Athletics, Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves, finishing 36-47 with a 4.33 ERA, 20 complete games and 484 strikeouts in 761 1/3 innings. His hometown Pirates turned him away from tryouts, judging neither his fastball nor his 178-pound frame big-league material, and he was driving a truck and pitching semipro ball around Pittsburgh when a chance meeting with Brooklyn Dodgers scout Doc Ruppan at a friend's wedding in October 1956 finally got him a contract. He rose fast enough that an International League official compared him to Don Drysdale in 1959, but arm trouble and a deep Los Angeles staff sent him to Kansas City in March 1961, where he became the Athletics' workhorse and chose to pitch through the shoulder and arm pain that shadowed the rest of his career. He retired in 1968, drove trucks for a living, and in 1989 was a player-coach for the West Palm Beach Tropics of the Senior Professional Baseball Association. He died in West Palm Beach on August 26, 2000.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 229 | 0 | 7 | 103 | 79 | 30 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #397 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #23 Ed Lopat
- #51 George Alusik
- #67 Ed Charles
- #104 Lew Krausse
- #124 Dick Howser
- #157 Diego Segui
- #195 Manny Jimenez
- #214 Orlando Pena
- #236 Bill Bryan
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #256 Jerry Lumpe
- #282 Bob Del Greco
- #301 Bill Fischer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #82 card?
It is card #82 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Rakow of the Kansas City Athletics.
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.