1963 Topps #491 Harry Craft
About this card
The nineteen manager cards use the same portrait layout as the players. Twenty clubs, nineteen managers: the Cubs were run by their rotating College of Coaches from 1961 to 1965 and have no manager card.
About Harry Craft
Card #491 places Craft in the sixth series of 1963 Topps, a semi-high number, and once more among the set's managers in a Colt .45s cap. His second Houston team matched the first in losses, going 66-96 for ninth place, 33 games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers and ahead of nobody but the Mets. There was real baseball in it, though: Don Nottebart threw the first no-hitter in franchise history on May 17, a 4-1 win over Philadelphia, and Rusty Staub, the rookie Craft batted fourth on Opening Day, became the club's first player named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team.
Harry Francis Craft (1915-1995) was a center fielder who earned his keep with his glove and a manager who ran Houston's first big-league club. He broke in with the Cincinnati Reds in September 1937, held center field as the Reds won National League pennants in 1939 and 1940, started all four games of the 1939 World Series sweep by the Yankees, and made a single pinch-hitting appearance in the 1940 Series that Cincinnati took from Detroit in seven games. He hit for the cycle in a 23-2 rout of Brooklyn on June 8, 1940, but his bat kept fading, and a July 1942 waiver deal to the Yankees ended his major-league playing days at 27; he served in the Navy during the war and finished as a player with Kansas City in the minors in 1948. Managing went better. He was Mickey Mantle's first professional manager, at Independence in 1949 and Joplin in 1950, then ran the Kansas City Athletics from August 1957 through 1959, took a turn as head coach in the Cubs' 1961 College of Coaches, and opened the Houston Colt .45s in 1962. He later scouted and worked in player development for the Orioles, Giants and Yankees before retiring in 1991. Cooperstown never called, but the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame elected him in 1963.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 320 | 5 | 46 | 159 | 73 | 24 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
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 #491 card?
It is card #491 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Harry Craft of the Houston Colt .45's. The nineteen manager cards use the same portrait layout as the players. Twenty clubs, nineteen managers: the Cubs were run by their rotating College of Coaches from 1961 to 1965 and have no manager card.
Why is #491 harder to find?
It is a semi-high card from the sixth print series, #447-511 - the run where the set's short prints sit. Scarcer than series 1-5, easier than series 7.
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.