1964 Topps #539 Roy Face
About Roy Face
Face's 1964 card, #539, is a series-7 high number. The back reports a 1963 season whose 3-9 record understates the work behind it: a 3.23 ERA and 16 saves across 56 relief appearances, a little more than half the save total he had piled up the year before.
ElRoy Leon Face, printed on his cards as Roy, pitched sixteen major league seasons, nearly all with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1953, 1955-1968), before finishing with Detroit (1968) and the expansion Montreal Expos (1969). Signed by the Phillies in 1949 and drafted away by Brooklyn and then Pittsburgh, he became a full-time reliever at New Orleans in 1954 and picked up the forkball that made him one of the game's first bullpen stars. His signature year was 1959: 18-1, a .947 winning percentage that broke Johnny Allen's 1937 record of .938, and 18 wins in relief that still stand as the major league record, past Jim Konstanty's 16 from 1950. An All-Star in 1959, 1960 and 1961, he led the National League in saves in 1958, 1961 and 1962. In the 1960 World Series he saved three games as Pittsburgh beat the Yankees, a Series first. Face retired with 193 saves, behind only Hoyt Wilhelm at the time; his 802 games and 188 saves remain Pittsburgh records. He died on February 12, 2026, eight days short of his 98th birthday.
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 | 300 | 2 | 40 | 145 | 73 | 21 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 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: #373 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #20 Bob Friend
- #37 Smoky Burgess
- #62 Ted Savage
- #74 Pirates 1964 Rookie Stars
- #91 Bob Bailey
- #117 Earl Francis
- #141 Danny Murtaugh
- #163 Donn Clendenon
- #193 Jerry Lynch
- #209 Bob Allen
- #224 Tommie Sisk
- #246 Manny Mota
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #539 card?
It is card #539 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Roy Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Is 1964 Topps #539 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.