1964 Topps #582 Rod Kanehl
About Rod Kanehl
Card #582 is another seventh-series high number. It covers his last big-league year, the Mets' first at Shea Stadium, where he cracked to teammate Bill Wakefield, "Are we good enough to play here?" He opened camp as one of seven candidates at third base and started there in three of the first seven games, then moved to second base and center field once the Mets acquired Charley Smith from the White Sox. On June 19 he pulled off an unassisted double play from the outfield, catching a shallow liner and tagging Phillies runner Ruben Amaro at second. A July slump and an August leg injury held him to 92 at-bats after midseason; he hit .232 in 98 games and singled home a run in his final at-bat on October 4.
Roderick Edwin Kanehl, born April 1, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Springfield, Missouri, was a right-handed utility man who spent eight seasons in the Yankees and Reds farm systems before reaching the majors at 28. A national decathlon runner-up in 1953 while enrolled at Drury University, he was signed off the track in 1954 by longtime scout Tom Greenwade for a $4,000 bonus. Casey Stengel never forgot watching him scale a fence chasing a home run ball in a 1956 Yankees practice game, and when Stengel took over the expansion Mets he had the club's Triple-A affiliate draft Kanehl in the November 1961 minor league draft. His aggressive style earned him the nickname "Hot Rod," and he made the 1962 club as a non-roster invitee, edging out Joe Christopher for the last spot. Over three seasons, all with the Mets, he played every position but pitcher and catcher and batted .241/.277/.300 with 6 home runs and 47 RBIs in 340 games. Sent to Triple-A Buffalo after 1964, he asked to be traded, then refused a minor league contract and retired. He later worked in construction and insurance and owned a restaurant, was the only former Met at Stengel's 1975 funeral, and died December 14, 2004 in Palm Springs, California.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 268 | 2 | 48 | 115 | 61 | 27 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 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 #582 card?
It is card #582 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rod Kanehl of the New York Mets.
Is 1964 Topps #582 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #523-587, distributed last. Scarcer than the rest of the set but only mildly so - the high premium runs roughly 55-60 percent, far milder than the 1952-62 highs.
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.