1963 Topps #78 Marv Throneberry
About Marv Throneberry
Number 78 catches Throneberry as a New York Met, the job that turned him into a folk hero. Reunited with manager Casey Stengel, he played 116 games for the 40-120 expansion club in 1962 and set career highs of 16 home runs and 49 RBIs, hitting 12 of those homers in the short-porched Polo Grounds while committing 17 errors at first base. The encore was brief: a spring holdout over pay, Tim Harkness imported from the Dodgers to take first base, two hits in 14 at-bats, a final big-league game on May 5, and a trip to the Buffalo farm club on May 9 that closed out his time in the majors. Card 78 comes from the set's first print series.
Marvin Eugene Throneberry was born in Collierville, Tennessee, on September 2, 1933, and grew up on the family farm in nearby Fisherville. A left-handed-hitting, left-handed-throwing first baseman, he signed with the New York Yankees in 1952 after turning down an offer to join his older brother Faye with the Boston Red Sox. He became one of the era's most feared minor-league sluggers, leading the American Association in home runs three straight seasons with the Denver Bears from 1955 through 1957 and taking league MVP honors in 1956. Blocked in New York by Bill Skowron, he got his longest looks only when Skowron was hurt, and he was on the Yankees' 1958 World Series winner. He went to Kansas City in the December 1959 blockbuster that brought Roger Maris to the Yankees, moved on to Baltimore at midseason 1961, and was traded to the expansion New York Mets in May 1962. Over parts of seven major-league seasons he batted .237 with 53 home runs and 170 RBIs. Known as Marvelous Marv, he later poked fun at himself in a long run of Miller Lite commercials. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and died of cancer in Fisherville in 1994 at age 60.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 339 | 0 | 9 | 120 | 144 | 48 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #78 card?
It is card #78 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Marv Throneberry of the New York Mets.
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.