1963 Topps #444 Jim Maloney
About Jim Maloney
#444 is a plain fifth-series card; Maloney already had three big-league seasons behind him. The year it accompanied was the best of his life: 23-7 with a 2.77 ERA and 265 strikeouts across 250 1/3 innings for a fifth-place Cincinnati club that went 86-76. The 265 set a Reds record, and his 9.53 strikeouts per nine innings led the majors. On May 21 he fanned eight Milwaukee batters in a row on his way to 16 in the game, matching the franchise's single-game mark.
James William Maloney was born in Fresno, California, on June 2, 1940, and was scouted as a shortstop by all sixteen major league clubs before Reds scout Bobby Mattick talked him into pitching. He signed with Cincinnati on April 1, 1959 for a reported $100,000 bonus and reached the majors on July 27, 1960, still 20 years old. Over twelve seasons with the Reds (1960-1970) and the California Angels (1971) he went 134-84 with a 3.19 ERA and 1,605 strikeouts, throwing 74 complete games, 30 of them shutouts. He struck out more than 200 batters every year from 1963 through 1966, threw two no-hitters, and lost a third no-hit bid in the eleventh inning. Chronic arm and shoulder trouble wore him down, and a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered running out a ground ball early in 1970 finished him as a winning pitcher just as the Big Red Machine was taking shape. He retired in 1972 at 32 and was elected in 1973 to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, the club's own honor.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 250 | 1 | 14 | 104 | 92 | 21 | 14 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 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: #63 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #21 Marty Keough
- #29 1963 Rookie Stars
- #37 Jerry Lynch
- #70 Jim O'Toole
- #90 Gordy Coleman
- #116 Jim Brosnan
- #133 Gene Freese
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #178 Johnny Edwards
- #194 Joe Nuxhall
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #444 card?
It is card #444 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.