1963 Topps #300 Willie Mays
About Willie Mays
The 1963 cards report the 1962 pennant year: a .304 average, a league-leading 49 home runs, 141 RBI and 130 runs, with Mays finishing second in the Most Valuable Player vote to Maury Wills. San Francisco caught the Dodgers, won a three-game playoff and then lost a seven-game World Series to the Yankees. Card #3 puts him at the top of the National League home run leaders over Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks and Orlando Cepeda. Card #138, Pride of the N.L., pairs him with Stan Musial. The solo card is #300, from a fourth series Topps printed in smaller numbers than the middle series of earlier years - not as common as the low-series cards either.
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (1931-2024), the Say Hey Kid, played 23 major league seasons (1951-1952, 1954-1973), almost all of them in center field for the New York and San Francisco Giants. New York writers hung the nickname on him during his rookie year for the greeting he used in place of hello, though which writer coined it has been argued over ever since. Mays reached the Giants in 1951 out of the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons and won Rookie of the Year, then lost most of two seasons to the Army. He returned in 1954 to take the batting title at .345, the National League Most Valuable Player award and a World Series title, a year remembered for his over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz's drive in Game One. He moved west with the club in 1958 and stayed a star for another decade and a half: a second MVP in 1965, four home run crowns, twelve consecutive Gold Gloves from 1957 through 1968 and 24 All-Star selections. He finished with 660 home runs, third in history when he retired, and 3,293 hits, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979 on the first ballot with 94.7 percent of the vote.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 3,664 | 1 | 38 | 345 | 614 | 715 | 644 | 1,297 | 10 |
| SGC | 1,450 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 110 | 187 | 312 | 779 | 33 |
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
More Willie Mays in this set: #3 League Leaders, #138 Combo
Team card: #417 San Francisco Giants
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #3 1962 National League Home Run Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #30 Harvey Kuenn
- #50 Bill Pierce
- #61 Ernie Bowman
- #85 Tom Haller
- #106 Bob Bolin
- #128 Matty Alou
- #138 Pride of the N.L.
- #143 World Series Game #2 - Sanford Flashes Shutout Magic
- #145 World Series Game #4 - Hiller Blasts Grand Slammer
- #147 World Series Game #6 - Pierce Stars in 3-Hit Victory
- #163 Don Larsen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #300 card?
It is card #300 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants.
What are the key cards in the 1963 Topps set?
The #537 Rookie Stars card, Pete Rose's rookie card, leads the set. Beside it at the top sit #200 Mickey Mantle and #540 Bob Clemente, then #300 Willie Mays, #390 Hank Aaron, #210 Sandy Koufax, #340 Yogi Berra, #472 Lou Brock, #500 Harmon Killebrew (one of the four short prints) and the Rookie Stars cards with Willie Stargell (#553) and Tony Oliva (#228). The scarce sixth and seventh series (#447-576) hold the short prints and the hardest cards to find.
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.