1963 Topps #262 Ellis Burton
About Ellis Burton
Card 262 in the third series of the 1963 set lists Burton with the Houston Colt.45s, a club he never played a game for. Houston had taken him in the November 1962 Rule 5 draft off the Toronto Maple Leafs roster and brought him to camp that spring, but sold him to Cleveland just before Opening Day; Cleveland used him 26 times and sold him to the Cubs on May 27. He had not appeared in a big league game since 1960. The rest of 1963 was the best baseball of his life, 12 home runs in 93 Cubs games, capped August 31 at Wrigley Field by a two-out, ninth-inning walk-off grand slam off Houston's Hal Woodeshick for a 6-5 win.
Ellis Narrington Burton, a switch-hitting outfielder born August 12, 1936 in Los Angeles, signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Jordan High School in Watts in 1955 and spent most of the next eight years in the minors, passing through the Pirates, Orioles, Cardinals, Braves and Cleveland farm systems. He got a late-season look with the St. Louis Cardinals in September 1958 and a second brief turn in 1960, then built the bulk of his professional record down below: an eleven-year minor league career from 1955 through 1965 covering 1,213 games at four levels, with a .274 average and 169 home runs. His major league total came to 215 games across five seasons with the Cardinals, Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs, a .216 average with 17 home runs, 59 RBI and 79 runs scored. He had speed and a good glove but never made enough contact, striking out 117 times in 556 big league at-bats. Released after the 1965 season, he went home to California and became a bank manager. He died October 1, 2013 in Fontana, California, at 77.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 171 | 0 | 5 | 72 | 70 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 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: #312 Houston Colt .45's
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #24 Bob Bruce
- #45 Bob Aspromonte
- #77 Al Spangler
- #99 Jim Umbricht
- #119 Bob Lillis
- #141 Manny Mota
- #153 Hal Smith
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #189 Dave Giusti
- #204 Don Nottebart
- #208 1963 Rookie Stars
- #230 Pete Runnels
- #277 Dick Farrell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #262 card?
It is card #262 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ellis Burton of the Houston Colt .45's.
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.