1963 Topps #538 George Brunet
About George Brunet
Card #538 sits among the 1963 set's very scarce seventh-series high numbers, the 54-card run of 523 through 576 that Topps printed last and that carries the bulk of a complete set's value, and it lands one slot past the Pete Rose rookie at #537. The Houston uniform reflects 1962, when a late-July call-up gave Brunet 17 games and 11 starts for the Colt .45's: 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA, two complete games and 36 strikeouts over 54 innings.
George Stuart Brunet, a left-handed pitcher born June 8, 1935, in Houghton, Michigan, signed with Detroit for $500 after a Briggs Stadium tryout in the fall of his senior year at Calumet High School and reached the majors with the Kansas City Athletics in September 1956. Over parts of 15 seasons through 1971 he also pitched for the Milwaukee Braves, Houston Colt .45's, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles and California Angels, Seattle Pilots, Washington Senators, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals, finishing 69-93 with a 3.62 ERA and 921 strikeouts in 324 games. His prime came in the Angels rotation from 1965 through 1968, when he twice led the American League in losses, 19 in 1967 and 17 in 1968, behind ERAs of 3.31 and 2.86. Brunet then went to Mexico and stayed, pitching there from 1973 through 1989 and drawing the nickname El Viejo, the Old Man, for working into his fifties. He threw a no-hitter at 42, set a Mexican League record with 55 shutouts, and closed a professional career of roughly 36 years. He died of a heart attack on October 25, 1991, in Poza Rica, Veracruz, and was inducted into the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 231 | 1 | 13 | 126 | 69 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 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.
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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
- #262 Ellis Burton
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #538 card?
It is card #538 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Brunet of the Houston Colt .45's.
Why is #538 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #512-576 - the last and scarcest run in the set. Price guides often band the highs as #523-576, but the printing break falls between #511 and #512.
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.