1964 Topps #424 Dick Bertell
About Dick Bertell
The 1963 season printed on card #424 was Bertell's defensive peak: he led National League catchers by throwing out 60.8 percent of would-be base stealers, the twelfth-best single-season mark in major league history, and he did it across 99 games behind the plate. His bat lagged at .233 on 75 hits and 14 RBI, but the team finally moved, going 82-80 for Chicago's first winning season since 1946 with Bertell catching most of it. Number 424 falls in the fifth series.
Richard George Bertell was born in Oak Park, Illinois, went to high school in Des Moines, Iowa, and signed with the Chicago Cubs as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa State in June 1957. A right-handed catcher, he reached the majors on September 22, 1960, driving in a run with a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat, and played parts of seven big-league seasons. All but 22 of his 444 games came with the Cubs; the exception was the last four months of 1965 with the San Francisco Giants after a May trade. He was a light hitter, finishing at .250 with 327 hits, 10 home runs and 112 RBI, but the arm was why he played: he threw out 47.74 percent of the runners who tried to steal on him, fourth on the all-time list. His final major league hit was a triple off Hall of Famer Jim Bunning in April 1967. Bertell died on December 20, 1999, in Mission Viejo, California, and his old college put him in the Iowa State Hall of Fame the next year.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 200 | 4 | 32 | 99 | 36 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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: #237 Chicago Cubs
More Chicago Cubs cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #29 Lou Brock
- #55 Ernie Banks
- #78 Merritt Ranew
- #96 Bob Buhl
- #111 Don Elston
- #131 Steve Boros
- #175 Billy Williams
- #192 Cubs 1964 Rookie Stars
- #220 Dick Ellsworth
- #252 Ken Aspromonte
- #269 Ellis Burton
- #286 Don Landrum
- #309 Paul Toth
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #424 card?
It is card #424 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Bertell of the Chicago Cubs.
Why is #424 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.