1963 Topps #70 Jim O'Toole
About Jim O'Toole
O'Toole's 1963 Topps card, #70, a series-1 issue, reports his 1962 season: 16-13 with a 3.50 ERA, 170 strikeouts and 11 complete games for a Cincinnati club that won 98 games and finished third, three and a half behind San Francisco. The Reds actually won more games than they had in their pennant year and still fell back, hampered by trouble with the league's two new clubs. It was the third of five straight double-digit-win seasons for the left-hander, a run that began with his 12 wins in 1960.
James Jerome O'Toole was born January 10, 1937, on Chicago's South Side, the son of a city policeman who taught him to box. A self-described cocky kid, he picked up the nickname 'Rocky' and fought Golden Gloves. He attended Leo High School, which had no baseball team, so he learned to pitch on the sandlots before a season at the University of Wisconsin. A 9-1 summer for Mitchell in South Dakota's Basin League brought a $50,000 bonus from Cincinnati. The left-hander won 20 games at Double-A Nashville in 1958 and debuted for the Reds that September 26. He joined the rotation in 1959 and was a fixture in it through 1964. In 1961 he went 19-9 with a 3.10 ERA as Cincinnati took the pennant, then started Games One and Four of the World Series and lost both to Whitey Ford. Three more double-digit-win seasons followed; he made his only All-Star team in 1963 and pitched to a 2.66 ERA in 1964, the best of his full seasons. Traded to the Chicago White Sox for 1967, his last major-league year, he finished 98-84 with 1,039 strikeouts in ten seasons. Cincinnati elected him to the Reds Hall of Fame in 1970, his first year of eligibility. He died in Cincinnati in 2015.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 231 | 1 | 3 | 114 | 65 | 23 | 12 | 10 | 3 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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
- #90 Gordy Coleman
- #116 Jim Brosnan
- #133 Gene Freese
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #178 Johnny Edwards
- #194 Joe Nuxhall
- #203 Chico Cardenas
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #70 card?
It is card #70 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim O'Toole 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.