1963 Topps #554 Hank Fischer
About Hank Fischer
Fischer's first Topps card lands deep in the 1963 set. Card #554 belongs to the seventh and final series, numbers 523 through 576, which makes his rookie card a high number and the last stretch most collectors finish. The back looks at his 1962 debut season, when the 22-year-old worked all 29 of his appearances out of the Milwaukee bullpen -- it opened with one scoreless inning against Cincinnati on April 16 -- and finished 2-3 with a 5.30 ERA across 37 1/3 innings.
Henry William Fischer was born January 11, 1940, in Yonkers, New York. As a schoolboy in 1957 he threw three no-hitters and carried Roosevelt High School to the city baseball championship, then took the first Louis J. Flowers Memorial Award as the city's outstanding schoolboy athlete; the nickname 'Bulldog' came from the way he played basketball. Seton Hall basketball coach John 'Honey' Russell, a Milwaukee Braves scout, recommended him, and the right-hander signed before the 1959 season. At Cedar Rapids in 1960 he led the Three-I League with 217 strikeouts and a 2.01 ERA, reaching Triple-A Louisville a year later. Fischer pitched six major-league seasons for the Braves in Milwaukee and Atlanta, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox, going 30-39 with a 4.23 ERA and 369 strikeouts in 168 games; one year as a rotation regular held 28 of his 77 career starts. Boston released him after the 1967 season, and at 28 he went into the restaurant business in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 259 | 0 | 13 | 111 | 99 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 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: #503 Milwaukee Braves
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- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
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- #62 Bob Hendley
- #73 Bobby Bragan
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #554 card?
It is card #554 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hank Fischer of the Milwaukee Braves.
Is 1963 Topps #554 a rookie card?
Yes - #554 is the 1963 Topps rookie card of Hank Fischer.
Why is #554 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.