1964 Topps #282 Bob Bruce
About Bob Bruce
The third-series card #282 reports a 1963 far better than its 5-9 record: a 3.59 ERA over 30 games, 25 starts and 170.1 innings for a Houston club that finished last in the National League in runs scored and handed him one run a game in his nine losses. After a 0-1 start with a 12.96 ERA through three outings he straightened out fast, throwing the first of his six major-league shutouts, a one-hitter against Cincinnati at Colt Stadium, and striking out 11 Mets in a three-hitter he twice came within a strike of finishing as a two-hit shutout. His shoulder gave out after an August 13 loss at St. Louis, leaving only two September relief appearances.
Robert James Bruce was born May 16, 1933, a birth the record books place in New York City and his family history places in Detroit; either way he grew up in Highland Park, the small city ringed by Detroit. He did not take baseball seriously until his senior year at Highland Park High, then won a scholarship to Alma College, where a 19-strikeout game against the University of Detroit brought scouts around. The Tigers signed the 6-foot-3 right-hander for a $20,000 bonus, and after Army service interrupted his climb he reached the majors on September 14, 1959. Bruce worked as a swingman in 50 games for Detroit before Houston acquired him for veteran Sam Jones on December 1, 1961, and the move to the expansion Colt .45s made him a rotation regular. He is remembered in Houston as the man who threw the first pitch in Astrodome history. Traded to Atlanta on the last day of 1966 in the package that brought Eddie Mathews to Houston, Bruce closed a nine-year, 219-game career with the Braves, finishing 49-71 with a 3.85 ERA, 733 strikeouts and six shutouts over 1,122.1 innings. He later ran his own real estate brokerage near Dallas, and died March 14, 2017, in Plano, Texas.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 245 | 3 | 26 | 122 | 55 | 24 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #282 card?
It is card #282 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Bruce of the Houston Colt .45's.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, Baseball Almanac, 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 2026-10-11.