1963 Topps #289 Hal Brown
About Hal Brown
#289 is a fourth-series card, and Topps still has Brown in Yankee pinstripes on it. New York bought him from Baltimore for cash on September 7, 1962, wanting a steady veteran for the stretch drive; he worked two games, lost his only decision, and because the sale came after the September 1 cutoff he was ineligible for the World Series the Yankees then won in seven games over the Giants. That closed an eight-season Baltimore run worth a 62-48 record. The Yankees carried him a few days into the 1963 season before Houston bought him, leaving #289 to memorialize a pinstriped tenure of two September appearances.
Hector Harold Brown grew up in Pomona, a cotton-mill section of Greensboro, North Carolina, one of eight children in a family where everybody had a nickname; his was Skinny, hung on him as a chubby baby and never shaken. A hard-hitting high school and American Legion shortstop, he drew the eye of North Carolina coach and part-time Red Sox scout Bunn Hearn, then spent a single semester at Chapel Hill before enlisting in the Army Air Forces in 1943. He served as a bomber gunner based in England and bailed out into the English Channel at 19 after his plane took heavy fire on a raid against German submarine bases in France. Discharged in December 1945, he signed with Boston for a $1,750 bonus, was moved to the mound at Class B Roanoke when the club ran short of pitchers, and climbed the farm system with a knuckleball he did not fully trust until his thirties. Paul Richards, who managed him at Seattle in 1950, kept reclaiming him: the White Sox in 1951, the Orioles in 1955, the Colt .45s in 1963. Brown pitched 14 big-league seasons for five clubs, finished 85-92 with a 3.81 ERA, twice led the American League in fewest walks per nine innings, and was elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1991.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 225 | 0 | 3 | 82 | 78 | 45 | 12 | 4 | 1 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 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: #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
- #60 Elston Howard
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #289 card?
It is card #289 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hal Brown 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.