1964 Topps #543 Bob Uecker
About Bob Uecker
1964 Topps #543 is a seventh-series high number - his first Topps card as a Cardinal. The Braves traded him to St. Louis on April 9, 1964 for two minor leaguers, catcher Jimmie Coker and outfielder Gary Kolb, which made him, as he liked to tell it, the first Milwaukee native the Braves both signed and shipped out. He got into 40 games and hit .198 in 106 at-bats behind Tim McCarver. St. Louis went 93-69 and took the pennant by a single game, then beat the Yankees in the World Series; McCarver caught every inning of it while Uecker watched from the bullpen, and McCarver later said the Cardinals might not have won without him keeping the clubhouse loose.
Robert George Uecker (January 26, 1934 - January 16, 2025) grew up in Milwaukee, left a technical high school there without finishing, and enlisted in the Army in 1954, playing service ball at Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Belvoir with future Cardinals teammate Dick Groat. Out of the service he signed with his hometown Braves in 1956 for a $3,000 bonus, spent six years in their farm system, and reached the majors at 28. He caught six seasons, 1962 through 1967, for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, nearly always as a backup: 297 games, 146 hits, 14 home runs, 74 runs batted in, and a career average of exactly .200. He was a genuinely good receiver, finishing at .981 in the field, and he was a Cardinal when St. Louis won the 1964 World Series. Released in April 1968, he turned storytelling into a much larger second act: Milwaukee Brewers play-by-play for 54 seasons beginning in 1971, close to 100 appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show - Carson is the one who dubbed him Mr. Baseball - George Owens on Mr. Belvedere, and announcer Harry Doyle in the Major League movies. The National Baseball Hall of Fame gave him its Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting in 2003.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · The Baseball Cube
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 837 | 0 | 39 | 214 | 206 | 146 | 104 | 128 | 0 |
| SGC | 232 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 36 | 38 | 70 | 66 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #87 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #11 1963 National League R.B.I. Leaders
- #24 Carl Sawatski
- #40 Dick Groat
- #59 Ernie Broglio
- #103 Curt Flood
- #119 Gary Kolb
- #147 Ray Sadecki
- #160 Ken Boyer
- #183 Ron Taylor
- #211 Jim Coker
- #240 Bill White
- #262 Cardinals 1964 Rookie Stars
- #278 Bobby Shantz
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #543 card?
It is card #543 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Uecker of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Is 1964 Topps #543 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #523-587, distributed last. Scarcer than the rest of the set but only mildly so - the high premium runs roughly 55-60 percent, far milder than the 1952-62 highs.
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.