1964 Topps #197 Frank Lary
About Frank Lary
His Detroit tenure ended in the middle of this set's run. Lary made six appearances for the Tigers in 1964, working 18 innings to a 7.00 ERA, before the New York Mets bought him in May. That closed out parts of eleven seasons in a Detroit uniform and 123 wins, tenth on the franchise list. In August the Mets sent him to the Milwaukee Braves for Dennis Ribant and $25,000. Card #197 still has him in Tigers gear, which by midseason he no longer was, the sort of lag that made mid-series cards read like postcards from a month earlier.
Frank Strong Lary was a hard-throwing right-hander who anchored the Detroit Tigers rotation from 1955 through 1961 and earned three All-Star selections across 1960 and 1961. Born April 10, 1930 in Northport, Alabama, the sixth of seven sons of a cotton farmer and semipro spitball pitcher, he learned the game on a mound his father built in the family's front yard, then pitched the University of Alabama into the 1950 College World Series. Detroit signed him that summer; the Army took the next two years. He led the American League with 21 wins in 1956, paced the league in complete games in 1958, 1960 and 1961, and peaked at 23-9 in 1961, when he also won a Gold Glove and finished third in the Cy Young voting behind Whitey Ford and Warren Spahn. The nickname lasted: the Yankee Killer went 27-10 against New York from 1955 through 1961, years the Yankees won six pennants. A sore arm arrived in 1962 and never left, and he closed out with the Mets, Braves and White Sox. Final line: 128-116, 3.49 ERA, 21 shutouts, 1,099 strikeouts over twelve seasons. He coached and scouted, then ran a construction business in Tuscaloosa, and entered the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. He died December 13, 2017.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 248 | 0 | 27 | 135 | 64 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #67 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #6 1963 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #8 1963 American League Batting Leaders
- #12 1963 American League R.B.I. Leaders
- #19 Don Wert
- #39 Hank Aguirre
- #58 Don Demeter
- #98 Bill Bruton
- #128 Mickey Lolich
- #143 Bubba Phillips
- #165 Jerry Lumpe
- #181 Dave Wickersham
- #236 Bill Faul
- #250 Al Kaline
- #272 Jake Wood
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #197 card?
It is card #197 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Lary of the Detroit Tigers.
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.