1964 Topps #51 Pete Richert
About Pete Richert
Nineteen sixty-four was Richert's third big league season and his thinnest: eight games, six of them starts, a 2-3 record and a 4.15 ERA. Hit hard early, he was sent down to Spokane to rebuild his mechanics, went 7-8 there, and returned in September to strike out 22 in 28 innings. On December 4 Los Angeles packaged him with Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega and a player to be named, Dick Nen, to the Washington Senators for Claude Osteen, John Kennedy and $100,000. Card #51 is a first-series issue and the last of his 1960s Topps cards to picture him with Los Angeles.
Peter Gerard Richert, born October 29, 1939 in Floral Park, New York, was a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher who spent thirteen seasons in the majors with the Dodgers, Senators, Orioles, Cardinals and Phillies. A Sewanhaka High School product off Long Island who signed for a $2,000 bonus, he announced himself on April 12, 1962 by striking out the first six batters he faced in relief for Los Angeles, a major league record, and he remains the only pitcher to strike out four men in one inning in his debut. He was a two-time All-Star as a Washington starter in 1965 and 1966 before Baltimore moved him to the bullpen, where he pitched for three straight pennant winners from 1969 through 1971 and earned a ring with the 1970 champions; he collected another in 1963 with the Dodgers without throwing a pitch in that Series. Richert finished 80-73 with a 3.19 ERA and 925 strikeouts, retiring after a blood clot in his pitching arm surfaced late in the 1974 season.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 232 | 1 | 20 | 116 | 60 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #531 L. A. Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #5 1963 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #14 Dodgers 1964 Rookie Stars
- #30 Ron Perranoski
- #68 Willie Davis
- #88 John Roseboro
- #101 Walt Alston
- #120 Don Drysdale
- #136 World Series Game #1 - Koufax Strikes Out 15
- #137 World Series Game #2 - Davis Sparks Rally
- #138 World Series Game #3 - L.A. Takes 3rd Straight
- #139 World Series Game #4 - Sealing Yanks' Doom
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #51 card?
It is card #51 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Richert of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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.