1965 Topps #477 Cards Rookie Stars - Fritz Ackley / Steve Carlton
On this card: Fritz Ackley, Steve Carlton
About this card
This is one of the 55 Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 Topps set, each picturing two to four young players - 126 players in all - under a team banner, except #577 and #581, which carry American League and National League banners over players from three clubs. Joe Morgan (#16), Steve Carlton (#477), Jim (Catfish) Hunter (#526) and Tony Perez (#581) make their Topps debuts on these cards.
The story on this card
St. Louis purchased his contract on November 24, 1964, so Topps pictured him as a Cardinal on #477, a Rookie Stars card in the sixth series. It is a key rookie card of the set, though not on Ackley's account: the other man on it is Steve Carlton, and that cardmate is why our checklist flags #477 for the Hall of Fame. Ackley himself never pitched for St. Louis in the majors and closed out his playing days in the minors. Fritz Ackley won 18 games and a Pitcher of the Year award for Indianapolis in 1963, then pitched five times for the Chicago White Sox, beating Washington that September for his only major league victory.
Card #477 is Steve Carlton's rookie card and one of the keys to the 1965 set, a Cardinals Rookie Stars pairing that puts the 20-year-old alongside fellow St. Louis pitching prospect Fritz Ackley. Carlton had signed with the Cardinals in 1963 for a $5,000 bonus while attending Miami Dade College, then ran through four minor league stops in 1964, finishing 15-6 with a 2.22 ERA overall and 10-1 with a 1.03 ERA for Class-A Rock Hill. He made the big club out of spring training and debuted on April 12, 1965 at Wrigley Field, facing a single batter in relief. The season came to 15 games, two of them starts, and 25 innings of 2.52 ball. Steve Carlton was the Cardinals and Phillies left-hander known as Lefty, whose 1972 pitching Triple Crown season and then-record four Cy Young Awards carried him to 329 wins, 4,136 strikeouts and a first-ballot Hall of Fame election in 1994.
Sources: Wikipedia (Fritz Ackley) · Wikipedia (Steve Carlton) · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference (Steve Carlton)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 8,323 | 7 | 230 | 1,284 | 1,514 | 1,487 | 1,261 | 2,520 | 20 |
| SGC | 2,770 | 1 | 32 | 148 | 359 | 418 | 609 | 1,128 | 75 |
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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Related cards
Team card: #57 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #6 National League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #10 National League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #28 Barney Schultz
- #43 Mike Shannon
- #78 Dal Maxvill
- #100 Ken Boyer
- #116 Cards 1965 Rookie Stars
- #132 World Series Game #1 - Cards Take Opener
- #135 World Series Game #4 - Boyer's Grand-Slam
- #136 World Series Game #5 - 10th Inning Triumph
- #138 World Series Game #7 - Gibson Wins Finale
- #139 World Series - The Cards Celebrate
- #154 Bob Humphreys
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #477 card?
It is card #477 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Fritz Ackley and Steve Carlton. This is one of the 55 Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 Topps set, each picturing two to four young players - 126 players in all - under a team banner, except #577 and #581, which carry American League and National League banners over players from three clubs. Joe Morgan (#16), Steve Carlton (#477), Jim (Catfish) Hunter (#526) and Tony Perez (#581) make their Topps debuts on these cards.
Is 1965 Topps #477 a rookie card?
Yes - #477 is the rookie card of Steve Carlton. Fritz Ackley had already appeared on an earlier Topps card, so it is not his rookie card.
What are the key cards in the 1965 Topps set?
The #350 Mickey Mantle is the grail of the set. The other major keys are #250 Willie Mays, #300 Sandy Koufax, #170 Hank Aaron, #160 Roberto Clemente (printed "Bob" Clemente), #207 Pete Rose, #510 Ernie Banks and #460 Richie (Dick) Allen, plus four Hall of Fame rookies on Rookie Stars cards: #16 Joe Morgan, #477 Steve Carlton, #526 Jim (Catfish) Hunter and #581 Tony Perez. The short-printed cards inside #523-598 are the hardest to find.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.