1963 Topps #357 George Altman
About George Altman
Card 357 in the 1963 Topps set is a fourth-series card. It puts Altman in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform after the October 1962 trade out of Chicago. He opened as the club's regular right fielder and started 111 games there, sharing the position with Gary Kolb and Charlie James. His bat cooled to .274 with nine home runs and 47 runs batted in, though the glove held up and he ranked fifth in fielding percentage among National League right fielders. St. Louis chased the Dodgers into late September, then lost six straight and finished second, six games back.
George Lee Altman was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March 20, 1933, and worked tobacco fields as a youth before basketball carried him to Tennessee A&I State University in Nashville, a school that had no baseball team until his junior year. He turned pro with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1955 and signed with the Chicago Cubs that August on Buck O'Neil's recommendation. A 6-foot-4 left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, Altman reached the majors in 1959 after two minor league seasons split around Army service. Over nine big league years with the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets he batted .269 with 101 home runs and 403 runs batted in over 991 games, played all three outfield spots and first base, and was a National League All-Star in both 1961 and 1962. Nagging injuries cut the peak short. At 35 he went to Japan, where he spent eight seasons with the Tokyo/Lotte Orions and the Hanshin Tigers, hit 205 home runs and batted .309 before finishing at 42. He later traded commodities at the Chicago Board of Trade and settled in O'Fallon, Missouri, where he died on November 24, 2025, at 92.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 209 | 0 | 24 | 85 | 63 | 27 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 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.
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Related cards
Team card: #524 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #22 Curt Simmons
- #49 Dal Maxvill
- #54 1963 Rookie Stars
- #83 Charley James
- #97 Bob Duliba
- #130 Dick Groat
- #138 Pride of the N.L.
- #166 Johnny Keane
- #172 Gene Oliver
- #190 Minnie Minoso
- #206 Ray Washburn
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #357 card?
It is card #357 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Altman of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.