1964 Topps #442 Pumpsie Green
About Pumpsie Green
Card #442 falls in the fifth print series of the 1964 Topps set. It shows Green with the New York Mets, though he spent most of 1963 at Buffalo, where he hit .308 with 17 home runs; he got into just 17 games for Casey Stengel's Mets, batting .278. His September 17 home run off Philadelphia's Ray Culp at the Polo Grounds was the 13th and last of his major league career, and he played his final big league game on September 26, 1963. By the time this card reached packs he was back in Buffalo, a lingering hip problem having ended a spring trial at third base.
Elijah Jerry Green Jr. was born in Boley, Oklahoma on October 27, 1933 and raised in Richmond, California, where he grew up a fan of the Pacific Coast League's Oakland Oaks. His mother called him Pumpsie early on, and he said he never knew the origin of the name. The switch-hitting infielder signed with the Oaks out of Contra Costa College in 1953, and the Boston Red Sox purchased his contract during the 1955 season. He reached the majors on July 21, 1959, entering at Comiskey Park as a pinch runner to become the first Black player to appear for the Red Sox, the last major league club to integrate; Topps gum customers later voted him the second baseman on the 1959 Major League Rookie All-Star team. Green played second base and shortstop in Boston through 1962, mostly as a semi-regular and pinch runner, then closed his career with the 1963 New York Mets, batting .246 with 13 home runs and 74 RBIs in 344 games. After retiring as a player in 1965 he earned a physical education degree from San Francisco State and spent more than two decades at Berkeley High School in California, coaching baseball and teaching math. He died July 17, 2019 at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 186 | 3 | 20 | 95 | 44 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1964 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #27 New York Mets
More New York Mets cards:
- #44 Duke Carmel
- #57 Tim Harkness
- #84 Carl Willey
- #95 George Altman
- #113 Grover Powell
- #129 Amado Samuel
- #155 Duke Snider
- #176 Tracy Stallard
- #202 Galen Cisco
- #235 Ron Hunt
- #251 Choo Choo Coleman
- #288 Al Moran
- #324 Casey Stengel
- #345 Frank Thomas
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #442 card?
It is card #442 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pumpsie Green of the New York Mets.
Why is #442 harder to find?
It is a series 5-6 card. Cards from the fifth and sixth print series (#371-522) are a step tougher to find than #1-370; availability in 1964 runs in three tiers, not a cliff.
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.