1963 Topps #536 Norm Larker
About Norm Larker
Card #536 sits in the seventh series, a high number and the hardest of his 1960s Topps cards to find. It shows him with the Milwaukee Braves, who acquired him from Houston on November 30, 1962 in a four-player deal, sending Jim Bolger, Don Nottebart and Connie Grob to the Colt .45s. Milwaukee's first-base job was open after the Braves moved Joe Adcock to Cleveland, but Larker never took it: 25 starts into the year he was hitting .220, and his playing time only shrank from there. He finished at .177 in 64 Braves games, was sold to the San Francisco Giants on August 8, and managed one hit in 14 at-bats there before his major league career ended.
Norm Larker was a left-handed hitting, left-handed throwing first baseman who also worked the corner outfield, and he appeared in 667 major league games across six seasons from 1958 through 1963. Born in Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania, a hard-coal mining town, he graduated from Hazleton High School and turned pro with the local Hazleton club before the Brooklyn organization brought him into its farm system in 1950. Gil Hodges blocked him at first base for years, so Larker kept hitting in the minors instead, batting over .300 in three straight American Association seasons at St. Paul before finally sticking with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a 27-year-old rookie in 1958. He started 85 games for the 1959 Dodgers, a team that won the National League pennant in a playoff and then the World Series, and he peaked in 1960, taking over first base from an injured Hodges and batting .323 with 142 hits, 26 doubles and 78 runs batted in. That season brought the only All-Star selection of his career. Houston, Milwaukee and San Francisco followed, and after a year in the minors he closed out his playing days with two seasons for the Toei Flyers in Japan's Pacific League. He died in Long Beach, California, in 2007.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 224 | 1 | 9 | 113 | 68 | 23 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 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: #503 Milwaukee Braves
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #46 Tommie Aaron
- #62 Bob Hendley
- #73 Bobby Bragan
- #74 Denver Lemaster
- #109 Lee Maye
- #126 Bob Uecker
- #137 Mack Jones
- #156 Roy McMillan
- #179 Ron Piche
- #201 Cecil Butler
- #238 Lou Johnson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #536 card?
It is card #536 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Norm Larker of the Milwaukee Braves.
Why is #536 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.