1963 Topps #257 Hank Aguirre
About Hank Aguirre
Topps' 1963 set captures the best year of Aguirre's career. Given 22 starts in 1962 after just nine across the previous four seasons, he threw 216 innings with 11 complete games and two shutouts, struck out 156, went 16-8 and posted the lowest ERA in the majors at 2.21. Card #6 is a first-series League Leaders card for American League earned run average, placing him ahead of Robin Roberts, Whitey Ford, Dean Chance and Eddie Fisher; his solo card #257 is a third-series base issue from the same summer.
Hank Aguirre was a 6-foot-4 left-hander who pitched 16 major-league seasons from 1955 to 1970 for the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs - ten of those years in Detroit, acquired with catcher Jim Hegan in a February 1958 trade. Born in Azusa, California, to a father who had emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico, he was called 'Mex' for that Mexican descent. Detroit moved him from the bullpen to the rotation in 1962, and he led the major leagues with a 2.21 ERA, a third of a run better than Sandy Koufax, went 16-8 and was named to both All-Star teams that summer, the only All-Star honors of his career. He finished 75-72 with a 3.25 ERA and was helpless at the plate: a lifetime .085 average and no home runs. Aguirre later coached for the Cubs and worked in the Oakland Athletics organization, then founded Mexican Industries, a Detroit auto-parts supplier that grew from eight employees to more than a thousand. He died of prostate cancer in 1994.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 247 | 0 | 21 | 131 | 72 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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 Hank Aguirre in this set: #6 League Leaders
Team card: #552 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #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
- #25 Al Kaline
- #44 Terry Fox
- #64 Dick McAuliffe
- #84 Ron Kline
- #134 Bob Scheffing
- #140 Frank Lary
- #164 Bubba Morton
- #169 1963 Rookie Stars
- #177 Bubba Phillips
- #218 Tiger Twirlers
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #257 card?
It is card #257 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hank Aguirre of the Detroit Tigers.
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.