1963 Topps #371 Rod Kanehl
About Rod Kanehl
Card #371 is a fifth-series issue. It marks Kanehl's second Mets summer, when winter knee surgery and the arrival of Ron Hunt cost him the second-base job he had inherited the year before. Stengel kept him anyway as the club's deluxe substitute batter, calling him "our leading pinch-hitter," and used him late in games at every position except pitcher, catcher and shortstop. He got 10 at-bats through the first four weeks, earned a $50 club bonus on May 12 by driving in a run with a bases-loaded hit by pitch, and finished at .241 in 109 games, his .268 on-base percentage over 191 at-bats alarming GM George Weiss more than it did his manager.
Roderick Edwin Kanehl, born April 1, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Springfield, Missouri, was a right-handed utility man who spent eight seasons in the Yankees and Reds farm systems before reaching the majors at 28. A national decathlon runner-up in 1953 while enrolled at Drury University, he was signed off the track in 1954 by longtime scout Tom Greenwade for a $4,000 bonus. Casey Stengel never forgot watching him scale a fence chasing a home run ball in a 1956 Yankees practice game, and when Stengel took over the expansion Mets he had the club's Triple-A affiliate draft Kanehl in the November 1961 minor league draft. His aggressive style earned him the nickname "Hot Rod," and he made the 1962 club as a non-roster invitee, edging out Joe Christopher for the last spot. Over three seasons, all with the Mets, he played every position but pitcher and catcher and batted .241/.277/.300 with 6 home runs and 47 RBIs in 340 games. Sent to Triple-A Buffalo after 1964, he asked to be traded, then refused a minor league contract and retired. He later worked in construction and insurance and owned a restaurant, was the only former Met at Stengel's 1975 funeral, and died December 14, 2004 in Palm Springs, California.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 270 | 0 | 29 | 131 | 77 | 22 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 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: #473 New York Mets
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- #43 Veteran Masters
- #59 Craig Anderson
- #68 Friendly Foes
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- #93 Galen Cisco
- #107 Jim Hickman
- #111 Al Jackson
- #135 Richie Ashburn
- #174 Larry Burright
- #197 Roger Craig
- #217 Joe Christopher
- #228 1963 Rookie Stars
- #233 Casey Stengel
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #371 card?
It is card #371 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rod Kanehl 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.