1965 Topps #459 Frank Kostro
About Frank Kostro
1965 Topps #459, a sixth-series card, shows Kostro in a Twins cap after the most productive summer of his career. Minnesota got him from the Angels on June 11, 1964 in a three-team deal that also brought Jerry Kindall from Cleveland and sent Vic Power and Lenny Green to Los Angeles; owner Calvin Griffith said flatly that he made the trade to beef up a pinch-hitting corps then sitting at 6-for-62. Kostro singled in his Minnesota debut, and in his first Twins start, filling in for Harmon Killebrew in left, he singled, doubled and homered off Cleveland lefty Jack Kralick. He hit .272 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 59 games and went 10-for-35 off the bench, tying for fourth in the American League in pinch hits.
Frank Jerry Kostro was born on August 4, 1937 in Windber, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the coal-mining community of Blough, earning 11 varsity letters at nearby Forbes High School. He accepted a combined football-basketball scholarship from Michigan rather than the Tigers' first offer, then left school after one semester when his father was hurt in a mine accident and signed with Detroit in 1956. Scouts loved his bat and doubted his glove, and he spent 14 professional seasons in North America, hitting .303 in nearly 1,200 minor-league games for Jamestown, Durham, Birmingham, Denver and other stops. In the majors he played 266 games over seven seasons (1962-65, 1967-69) for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins, starting only 80 of them, at five positions, and batting .244 with 114 hits and five home runs. Sent down in June 1965, he missed the Twins' World Series roster but was voted a partial share by his teammates and came away with a ring. He finished in Japan with the Hankyu Braves in 1970, then built an insurance business in Denver, served on the Harmon Killebrew Foundation board, and was inducted into the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 290 | 4 | 46 | 161 | 58 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 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. 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: #24 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #1 American League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #11 American League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #39 Gerry Arrigo
- #62 Jim Kaat
- #90 Rich Rollins
- #108 Don Mincher
- #122 Bill Pleis
- #157 Zoilo Versalles
- #171 Jim Roland
- #180 Bob Allison
- #201 Twins 1965 Rookie Stars
- #216 Al Worthington
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #459 card?
It is card #459 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Kostro of the Minnesota Twins.
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.