1964 Topps #558 Don Schwall
About Don Schwall
Number 558 sits in the seventh series of 1964 Topps, the high numbers that shipped late in the season, and it shows him as a Pirates pitcher. The 1963 season behind it read better than the won-lost line: 6-12 for a 74-88 club, but a 3.33 ERA across 167 2/3 innings with three complete games in 24 starts. Best of all, his strikeouts outnumbered his walks for the first time, 86 to 74, the control fix that pointed toward the bullpen work ahead.
Don Schwall was born March 2, 1936 in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, just outside Wilkes-Barre, and grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where basketball was his principal sport. A 6-foot-6 center at the University of Oklahoma, he met Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas teams three times and in one February 1957 meeting outscored him 30 points to 11, but he pitched only sparingly for the Sooners before Red Sox scout Wog Rice signed him in December 1957 for what Rice called the largest bonus ever paid an Oklahoman. Three minor league summers followed: 23-6 at Class D Alpine in 1959, then 16-9 for Triple-A Minneapolis in 1960 as a teammate of Carl Yastrzemski, who would be his Boston roommate the next spring. Called up in May 1961, Schwall won his first six decisions, pitched in that season's second All-Star Game, and was voted American League Rookie of the Year. A sub-par 1962 sent him to Pittsburgh, where he worked as both starter and reliever until a June 1966 trade to Atlanta. He finished 49-48 with 408 strikeouts and a 3.72 ERA over seven seasons, then built a second career as an investment banker.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 188 | 3 | 17 | 88 | 55 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 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: #373 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #20 Bob Friend
- #37 Smoky Burgess
- #62 Ted Savage
- #74 Pirates 1964 Rookie Stars
- #91 Bob Bailey
- #117 Earl Francis
- #141 Danny Murtaugh
- #163 Donn Clendenon
- #193 Jerry Lynch
- #209 Bob Allen
- #224 Tommie Sisk
- #246 Manny Mota
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #558 card?
It is card #558 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Schwall of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Is 1964 Topps #558 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.