1963 Topps #209 Hobie Landrith
About Hobie Landrith
1963 Topps #209, a third-series card, lists Landrith as a Baltimore Oriole, the job he inherited in June 1962 when Gus Triandos cracked a knuckle. He started nearly every Baltimore game that month, and though he sat near .100 after two weeks, three of his first five hits there were homers in Orioles wins, one a walk-off against Boston on June 22. Baltimore gave him one at-bat in 1963, then sold him to Washington, where he hit .175 in 42 games until a foul tip broke his hand in August.
Hobie Landrith was a left-handed-hitting, right-handed-throwing catcher who spent parts of fourteen big league seasons, from 1950 through 1963, mostly as a second- or third-string receiver. Born in Decatur, Illinois on March 16, 1930, he grew up in Detroit, where his family all but monopolized the catching job at Northwestern High School, and he played a season at Michigan State before Cincinnati signed him. He debuted with the Reds in July 1950 and singled in his first at-bat. Stints with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals followed, then San Francisco, where 1959 gave him his best year as the Giants' regular catcher. At 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds he was prized less for his bat than for his ceaseless chatter and his handling of pitchers, a habit of constant mound visits he traced to Birdie Tebbetts, his favorite manager in Cincinnati. In October 1961 the expansion New York Mets made him the first player their franchise ever selected, on the reasoning long attributed to Casey Stengel that a club without a catcher spends the day chasing passed balls. He batted .233 with 34 home runs and 203 RBIs in 772 games, coached the Senators in 1964, and died in 2023 at 93.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 208 | 0 | 12 | 120 | 60 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. PSA counts are straight grades only; PSA half grades (PSA 1.5 among them) and qualified slabs are not included. SGC half grades fold down (8.5→8).
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Related cards
Team card: #377 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #4 1962 American League Home Run Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #12 Steve Barber
- #19 Pete Burnside
- #41 Charlie Lau
- #65 Jackie Brandt
- #88 Ron Hansen
- #108 Hoyt Wilhelm
- #112 Dick Brown
- #125 Robin Roberts
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #205 Luis Aparicio
- #208 1963 Rookie Stars
- #213 Billy Hitchcock
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #209 card?
It is card #209 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hobie Landrith of the Baltimore Orioles.
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 2026-10-05.