1964 Topps #397 Chuck Cottier
About Chuck Cottier
Card #397 falls in the fifth series. The 1963 season behind it is where Cottier's grip on the job loosened: 113 games, a .205 average, five home runs and 21 runs batted in. Washington shuffled him around the infield - 86 games at second base, 23 at shortstop, one at third - and the fielding sagged with the bat, 16 errors and a .963 mark at second after .981 the year before. By 1964 he was down to 73 games and 137 at-bats.
Charles Keith Cottier was a good-fielding, light-hitting infielder who spent nine seasons in the majors between 1959 and 1969 with the Milwaukee Braves, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and California Angels. Born January 8, 1936 in Delta, Colorado, he lettered in four sports at Grand Junction High School - baseball, basketball, football and wrestling - and signed with the Baltimore Orioles organization in 1954. He broke in with Milwaukee in 1959 and found steady work only after a June 1961 trade to the expansion Washington Senators, where he held second base into 1965. He finished with a .220 average, 348 hits, 63 doubles, 17 triples, 19 home runs and 127 runs batted in over 580 games, and an overall .973 fielding percentage. An Achilles tendon injury in May 1969 ended his playing career with the Angels. Cottier began managing in the minors in 1971 and coached for the Mets and Mariners before taking over Seattle as interim manager on September 1, 1984; he managed the club through 1985 and 28 games of 1986, finishing 98-119. He later coached the Cubs, Orioles and Phillies, scouted for the Yankees and served as a special assistant to the Nationals' general manager. He died February 1, 2021 in Edmonds, Washington, at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 225 | 2 | 26 | 112 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 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: #343 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #28 Claude Osteen
- #46 Ed Brinkman
- #52 Chuck Hinton
- #92 Steve Ridzik
- #114 Don Lock
- #134 Don Zimmer
- #167 Senators 1964 Rookie Stars
- #187 Ed Roebuck
- #203 John Kennedy
- #217 Jim King
- #261 Jim Hannan
- #277 Ken Retzer
- #294 Ken Hunt
- #311 Tom Brown
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #397 card?
It is card #397 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chuck Cottier of the Washington Senators.
Why is #397 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.