1964 Topps #480 Bob Purkey
About Bob Purkey
Card No. 480 lands in the sixth series of the 1964 set, scarcer than the common run. Behind it is the year Purkey's arm gave out: he hurt it in one of the first workouts of spring training, did not pitch until May 7, and finished 6-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 21 starts, completing only four. At 1-4 in June he sat down with roommate Joey Jay's home movies from 1962, found he had shortened his arm motion, and came back to throw a shutout on 76 pitches. It was a glimpse, not a recovery.
Bob Purkey was a right-handed Pittsburgh native who pitched thirteen big-league seasons, from 1954 through 1966, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals. Signed by his hometown Pirates out of South Hills High School, he went 16-29 over four years for second-division Pittsburgh clubs; midway through that run, in 1955, general manager Branch Rickey sent him to the minors and taught him a knuckleball in ten pitches. The pitch made his name, though he insisted he was really a sinker and slider man who lived on control, walking just 2.2 batters per nine innings. A December 1957 trade to Cincinnati for Don Gross remade him: over seven Reds seasons he went 103-76, was picked for five All-Star squads across three summers, and anchored the 1961 pennant winners. His best year was 1962, when he finished 23-5 with a 2.81 ERA, led all major-league pitchers in winning percentage, and placed third in the balloting for the lone Cy Young Award. A sore arm in the spring of 1963 took the rest; he wound up 129-115 with 793 strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA, and Cincinnati elected him to the Reds Hall of Fame in 1974.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 331 | 0 | 41 | 193 | 58 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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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Related cards
Team card: #403 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #5 1963 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #33 Reds 1964 Rookie Stars
- #49 Bill Henry
- #72 Chico Cardenas
- #80 Vada Pinson
- #106 Joe Nuxhall
- #125 Pete Rose
- #144 Al Worthington
- #162 Hitting Area
- #166 Marty Keough
- #185 Jim O'Toole
- #207 Fred Hutchinson
- #233 Hal Smith
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #480 card?
It is card #480 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Purkey of the Cincinnati Reds.
Why is #480 harder to find?
It is a series 5-6 card. Cards from the fifth and sixth print series (#371-522) are a step tougher to find than #1-370; availability in 1964 runs in three tiers, not a cliff.
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.