1964 Topps #295 Roger Craig
About Roger Craig
St. Louis bought low and got a bargain. On November 4, 1963 the Cardinals sent George Altman and Bill Wakefield to the Mets for Craig, and he gave them the swing man they wanted: 39 games, 19 of them starts, a 7-9 record with five saves and a 3.25 ERA over 166 innings while the club climbed from seventh place in late July to the pennant. He allowed no runs at all in the World Series, striking out eight over 4 2/3 relief innings in the 4-3 Game 4 win that Ken Boyer's grand slam decided, and St. Louis took the Yankees in seven. Number 295 belongs to the fourth print series.
Roger Lee Craig was a right-handed pitcher born February 17, 1930, in Durham, North Carolina. He left North Carolina State after a year on a basketball scholarship, signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, lost 1952 and 1953 to Army service during the Korean War, and reached the majors on July 17, 1955 with a complete-game win at Ebbets Field. He won Game 5 of that year's World Series as Brooklyn claimed its only title, and pitched for the 1959 champion Los Angeles Dodgers after the move west. Taken by the expansion New York Mets in the October 1961 draft, he became the enduring face of their early struggles, absorbing two 20-loss seasons while still working as a complete-game workhorse. He relieved brilliantly for the 1964 world champion Cardinals, then closed out with Cincinnati and Philadelphia, finishing 74-98 with a 3.83 ERA over twelve seasons. Known afterward as the teacher of the split-finger fastball to Jack Morris and Mike Scott, he coached the 1984 champion Tigers and managed the Giants to the 1989 National League pennant. The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 1985. He died June 4, 2023, in San Diego.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 266 | 3 | 45 | 126 | 47 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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: #87 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #11 1963 National League R.B.I. Leaders
- #24 Carl Sawatski
- #40 Dick Groat
- #59 Ernie Broglio
- #103 Curt Flood
- #119 Gary Kolb
- #147 Ray Sadecki
- #160 Ken Boyer
- #183 Ron Taylor
- #211 Jim Coker
- #240 Bill White
- #262 Cardinals 1964 Rookie Stars
- #278 Bobby Shantz
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #295 card?
It is card #295 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Roger Craig of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.