1963 Topps #104 Lew Krausse
About Lew Krausse
Krausse's rookie card, #104 in the 1963 Topps first series, reaches collectors two years after his one big-league summer: 2-5 with a 4.85 ERA over 55.2 innings for Kansas City, eight of his twelve appearances starts. Look closely and the Athletics uniform is entirely airbrushed - the pinstripes lose their definition, the jersey number glows, and the grass and grandstand behind him read as paint rather than photograph. Topps ran the untouched original of the same picture a year later. There was no 1962 season to report on the back: a sore elbow shut Krausse down in July at Class A Binghamton and sent him to offseason surgery.
Lewis Bernard Krausse Jr. (April 25, 1943 - February 16, 2021) was credited with 18 no-hitters in amateur ball before he left Chester High School in Pennsylvania. Kansas City signed him within hours of his June 6, 1961 graduation for $125,000, a figure Athletics general manager Frank Lane called baseball's largest bonus ever; his father, Lew Krausse Sr., a former Philadelphia Athletics pitcher, scouted for the club. Ten days after graduation, at 18, Krausse threw a three-hit, 4-0 shutout over the expansion Los Angeles Angels, becoming the youngest pitcher in either league to complete a nine-inning shutout. Control problems and elbow surgery then kept him in the minors through 1962 and 1963. He broke through in 1966 at 14-9 with a 2.99 ERA; in 1967 owner Charlie Finley fined and suspended him over a team flight, turmoil that cost manager Alvin Dark his job and Ken Harrelson his release. Krausse pitched twelve major league seasons for five clubs, finishing 68-91 with a 4.00 ERA, then built a Kansas City metals business. He entered the Delaware County, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 246 | 1 | 9 | 110 | 95 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 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: #397 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #23 Ed Lopat
- #51 George Alusik
- #67 Ed Charles
- #82 Ed Rakow
- #124 Dick Howser
- #157 Diego Segui
- #195 Manny Jimenez
- #214 Orlando Pena
- #236 Bill Bryan
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #256 Jerry Lumpe
- #282 Bob Del Greco
- #301 Bill Fischer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #104 card?
It is card #104 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lew Krausse of the Kansas City Athletics.
Is 1963 Topps #104 a rookie card?
Yes - #104 is the 1963 Topps rookie card of Lew Krausse.
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.