1963 Topps #542 Lou Klimchock
About Lou Klimchock
Number 542 lands in the seventh print series of the 1963 set, a high number. Washington was a short chapter: the Senators claimed Klimchock on a conditional waiver deal before the 1963 season, he broke camp with the club and got into nine games, and then he was returned to the Braves, who sent him to Triple-A Denver. Behind the card sits a 1962 that barely registered in the majors, just eight games with Milwaukee; he spent most of that year with the Braves' Triple-A club at Louisville, which won the International League championship.
Louis Stephen Klimchock, a left-handed-hitting infielder from Hostetter, Pennsylvania, signed with the Kansas City Athletics in 1957 out of Latrobe High School, which fielded no baseball team; he played American Legion ball instead and was signed by scout Bruno Betzel. He tore up the Class C Pioneer League in 1958 at .389, then made history that September in Chicago, homering off a fellow teenager for his first major league hit. Over parts of 12 big league seasons between 1958 and 1970 he played mostly second and third base for the Athletics, Braves, Senators, Mets and Indians, but trades and long minor league stretches kept breaking up his career; his biggest year in the minors was a Pacific Coast League MVP season at Denver in 1964. His best major league season came late, in 1969 with Cleveland, when he hit .287 over a career-high 90 games. He finished at .232 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI in 318 games. He managed winter ball in Puerto Rico and two seasons at Reno, worked for Coors and then Coca-Cola, and has spent decades raising money for baseball alumni charities in Arizona.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 359 | 1 | 38 | 188 | 89 | 24 | 11 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 25 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 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: #131 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #47 Don Lock
- #69 Bud Zipfel
- #94 Bob Schmidt
- #121 Jim Hannan
- #149 Marv Breeding
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #171 Steve Hamilton
- #176 Jim King
- #219 Chuck Cottier
- #243 Don Leppert
- #263 Dave Stenhouse
- #276 Barry Shetrone
- #291 Don Rudolph
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #542 card?
It is card #542 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lou Klimchock of the Washington Senators.
Why is #542 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #512-576 - the last and scarcest run in the set. Price guides often band the highs as #523-576, but the printing break falls between #511 and #512.
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.