1963 Topps #495 Frank Thomas
A recognized short print in the sixth series. The player is the Mets slugger of the 1960s, not the White Sox Hall of Famer of the same name.
About Frank Thomas
At 33 Thomas gave the expansion Mets their biggest bat. He played 156 games, mostly in left field, and led the club with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs while it lost 120 games, then a modern-era record; he was the first Met to reach 20 homers, on August 1, 1962, and the first to 30 on September 2, and one three-game stretch brought him six. That 34 stood as the franchise record until Dave Kingman passed it in 1975. His 1963 Topps card, #495, is a Mets issue from the sixth series, a semi-high number and a recognized short print. The player shown is the Mets slugger, not the Frank Thomas elected to Cooperstown in 2014.
Frank Joseph Thomas (June 11, 1929 - January 16, 2023) was a right-handed-hitting outfielder, third baseman and first baseman who spent 16 major-league seasons from 1951 to 1966 with seven National League clubs. A Pittsburgh native who grew up in the shadow of Forbes Field, he spent four and a half years studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood at a seminary in Niagara Falls, Ontario before choosing professional baseball with the Pirates. He debuted at Forbes Field on August 17, 1951, and made All-Star teams in 1954, 1955 and 1958, peaking in 1958 with a .281 average, 35 home runs - second in the league to Ernie Banks - 109 RBIs and a fourth-place finish in the NL MVP vote. A damaged nerve in the thumb of his right hand, already bothering him when Cincinnati acquired him before the 1959 season, cut his home runs from 35 to 12 that year; surgery followed and he topped 20 again. He hit 20 or more homers nine times. Over 1,766 games he batted .266 with 1,671 hits, 286 home runs and 962 RBIs, playing every infield and outfield position except shortstop. He was just as well known for blunt salary holdouts against Pirates general manager Branch Rickey, including a 17-day standoff in 1955.
Sources: Wikipedia (Frank Thomas (outfielder)) · Wikipedia (Frank Thomas (designated hitter)) · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 351 | 0 | 3 | 116 | 135 | 58 | 31 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 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: #473 New York Mets
More New York Mets cards:
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- #43 Veteran Masters
- #59 Craig Anderson
- #68 Friendly Foes
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- #93 Galen Cisco
- #107 Jim Hickman
- #111 Al Jackson
- #135 Richie Ashburn
- #174 Larry Burright
- #197 Roger Craig
- #217 Joe Christopher
- #228 1963 Rookie Stars
- #233 Casey Stengel
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #495 card?
It is card #495 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Thomas of the New York Mets.
Is this the Hall of Fame Frank Thomas?
No. The Frank Thomas on #495 is the New York Mets slugger of the 1960s; the Hall of Fame first baseman of the same name played for the White Sox decades later. #495 is also one of the set's four short prints.
Why is #495 harder to find?
It is a semi-high card from the sixth print series, #447-511 - the run where the set's short prints sit. Scarcer than series 1-5, easier than series 7. It is also a short print card. Four sixth-series cards - #470 Tom Tresh, #484 Dale Long, #495 Frank Thomas and #500 Harmon Killebrew - were printed in smaller quantity than their neighbours and carry a premium.
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.