1963 Topps #394 Tim McCarver
About Tim McCarver
Card #394, a fifth-series issue, followed his rookie card. McCarver spent all of 1962 in the minors with Atlanta of the International League, batting .275 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI, so no 1962 major-league line stands behind it. The everyday job opened that summer, when St. Louis sent incumbent catcher Gene Oliver to Milwaukee for veteran Lew Burdette in a deadline deal and installed McCarver as its regular catcher.
James Timothy McCarver signed with the St. Louis Cardinals out of Memphis in 1959 for a $75,000 bonus, turning down a football scholarship, and debuted that September at 17. A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, he shuttled between St. Louis and the minors for four seasons before taking the catching job for good in 1963. From there he was the everyday catcher on the best National League club of the decade: Bob Gibson's preferred battery mate, a World Series winner in 1964 and 1967, and a seven-game loser to Detroit in 1968. He made All-Star teams in 1966 and 1967 and finished runner-up to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the 1967 National League MVP award. Traded to Philadelphia after the 1969 season, he later played for Montreal, St. Louis again and Boston before returning to the Phillies as Steve Carlton's personal catcher, a job that stretched his career into a fourth decade in 1980. He retired with a .271 average, 97 home runs and 645 RBI over 21 seasons, then built a second career in the broadcast booth that outlasted his playing days, calling a then-record 23 World Series and winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 2012. The Cardinals inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2017; he died in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 560 | 1 | 26 | 252 | 167 | 68 | 30 | 16 | 0 |
| SGC | 86 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 10 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #524 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #22 Curt Simmons
- #49 Dal Maxvill
- #54 1963 Rookie Stars
- #83 Charley James
- #97 Bob Duliba
- #130 Dick Groat
- #138 Pride of the N.L.
- #166 Johnny Keane
- #172 Gene Oliver
- #190 Minnie Minoso
- #206 Ray Washburn
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #394 card?
It is card #394 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tim McCarver of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.