1964 Topps #277 Ken Retzer
About Ken Retzer
1964 Topps #277 sits in the set's third series; it shows Retzer with the Washington Senators. The 1964 season turned out to be his last in the majors. A strong Florida spring won him the first and only Opening Day start of his career, but a 1-for-13 beginning cost him the job. On May 5 he threw out three would-be base stealers, Luis Aparicio among them, and within days he was optioned to Toronto of the International League to catch for manager Sparky Anderson. Recalled that September, he went hitless, ending the year at .094 in 32 at-bats, and played his last game on October 3 in Boston.
Kenneth Leo Retzer was born April 30, 1934, in Wood River, Illinois, the youngest of seven children, and went to high school at Wellsville, Missouri. He was arguably the better basketball player, taking a hoops scholarship to Jefferson City Junior College and then Central Missouri State, but he never finished school and moved behind the plate full time after a coach told him catching was the fastest road to the pros. Cleveland scout Johnny Schulte signed him in 1954; he hit .307 in his first pro season at Class D Tifton, lost 1957 to the Army, and reached Triple-A San Diego of the Pacific Coast League, where a strong throwing arm never quite answered the questions about the rest of his defense. On September 6, 1961, Cleveland traded him to the expansion Washington Senators for a player to be named later, and three days later he doubled off Jack Fisher in his first big-league at-bat. All four of his major-league seasons were spent in Washington: 237 games, 182 hits, 14 home runs, 72 RBIs, a .264 average, and 48 of 126 base stealers thrown out. His professional career ran thirteen seasons. He died May 17, 2020, in Sun City, Arizona, at 86.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 179 | 3 | 16 | 83 | 50 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 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
- #294 Ken Hunt
- #311 Tom Brown
- #327 Don Blasingame
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #277 card?
It is card #277 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ken Retzer of the Washington Senators.
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.