1963 Topps #60 Elston Howard
About Elston Howard
The 1963 Yankees rode Howard to another pennant. Batting cleanup much of the year with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hobbled, he set a career high with 28 home runs, hit .287 with 85 RBI, and slugged .528, third best in the league. He also took a Gold Glove on a .994 fielding mark, the first such award given to a Yankees catcher. The Dodgers swept the World Series in four despite Howard's .333 average. Two 1963 Topps cards carry him: first-series #60, and fourth-series #306, a combination card he shares with Minnesota catcher Earl Battey.
Elston Howard was born February 23, 1929, in St. Louis and signed out of Vashon High School with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1948. The New York Yankees bought his contract in July 1950; Army service during the Korean War cost him two seasons, and a Most Valuable Player year at Triple-A Toronto in 1954 finished his apprenticeship. On April 14, 1955, he became the first Black player to appear for the Yankees. Casey Stengel used him as a spare catcher, outfielder and first baseman behind Yogi Berra, but he took over the majority of the catching in 1960 and grew into one of the American League's finest receivers, winning Gold Gloves in 1963 and 1964. The 1963 season brought him the league's Most Valuable Player Award, the first won by a Black player in the American League. He was picked for nine straight All-Star teams from 1957 through 1965, appeared in ten World Series - nine with New York and a last one with Boston - and won four championships as a player. He finished up with the Red Sox in 1968, then came back to coach first base for the Yankees as the American League's first Black coach. He died in 1980 at 51.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 674 | 0 | 5 | 91 | 209 | 196 | 90 | 80 | 3 |
| SGC | 87 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 30 | 21 | 13 | 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
More Elston Howard in this set: #306 Combo
Team card: #247 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #10 1962 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #20 Tony Kubek
- #38 Bud Daley
- #42 Stan Williams
- #54 1963 Rookie Stars
- #92 Hector Lopez
- #120 Roger Maris
- #142 World Series Game #1 - Yanks' Ford Wins Series Opener
- #144 World Series Game #3 - Maris Sparks Yankee Rally
- #146 World Series Game #5 - Tresh's Homer Defeats Giants
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #60 card?
It is card #60 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Elston Howard of the New York Yankees.
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.