1964 Topps #44 Duke Carmel
About Duke Carmel
1964 Topps #44 is a first-series card; Carmel's major league debut had come five years earlier, in 1959. It pictures him as a New York Met, the club he joined in midseason 1963 and finished that year with as its regular first baseman. He never played for the Mets again, though: they assigned him outright to their Triple-A club in Buffalo, and he spent the whole of 1964 there instead of in the majors. Carmel made the demotion pay, hitting a career-high 35 home runs for the Bisons, four short of the league leader, Mack Jones.
Leon James "Duke" Carmel, born April 23, 1937, in New York City, was a left-handed hitting and throwing outfielder and first baseman listed at 6'3" and 202 pounds. He graduated from Ben Franklin High School in East Harlem and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955. In his third minor league season, in the Class C Pioneer League, he led the circuit with 118 runs and 121 RBI, batted a career-high .324 and was named an All-Star. Carmel debuted with the Cardinals on September 10, 1959, starting six games in center field, and got a second September trial in 1960. He spent 1961 and 1962 in the minors, including stints in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians organizations, before returning to St. Louis in 1963 for what proved to be his only full major league season, one he split between the Cardinals and the Mets. A last trial with the Yankees followed in 1965. Carmel batted .211 in all or parts of four seasons, collecting 48 hits, seven doubles, three triples, four home runs and 23 RBI in 124 games, and retired after the 1967 minor league season. He died August 3, 2021, in New Orleans.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 218 | 3 | 15 | 109 | 51 | 25 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #44 card?
It is card #44 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Duke Carmel of the New York Mets.
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.