1965 Topps #539 Herm Starrette
About Herm Starrette
Card 539, from Topps' seventh series in 1965 and inside the short-print zone, again pictures Starrette with the Baltimore Orioles, in what proved his final big-league season. He worked four relief appearances for Baltimore that year, posting a 1.00 ERA over nine innings without a decision, closing out a three-year major-league career spent entirely in the Orioles' bullpen.
Herman Paul Starrette pitched in the major leagues as a right-handed reliever for the Baltimore Orioles from 1963 through 1965, closing his three-season big-league line at 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA across 27 appearances and 46 innings, all in relief, after coming up through the Orioles' minor-league system beginning in 1958. His far longer career came afterward in the dugout: Starrette worked as a big-league pitching coach for 28 years across seven organizations, including the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants (two stints), Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox. His most celebrated assignment came in Philadelphia, where he served as pitching coach for the 1980 Phillies, the franchise's first World Series championship team. He was not selected to an All-Star team as a player and is not a Hall of Fame inductee.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 323 | 6 | 62 | 173 | 50 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 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: #572 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #1 American League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #9 American League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Robin Roberts
- #33 Jackie Brandt
- #49 Orioles 1965 Rookie Stars
- #67 Harvey Haddix
- #94 Charlie Lau
- #113 Steve Barber
- #150 Brooks Robinson
- #169 Dave Vineyard
- #188 Sam Bowens
- #204 Russ Snyder
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #539 card?
It is card #539 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Herm Starrette of the Baltimore Orioles.
Is 1965 Topps #539 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last series, #507-598. Unlike most 1960s Topps sets the 1965 highs are not scarce as a run - the premium sits on the short-printed cards inside #523-598. It is also a short-print zone card. Forty-four of the 76 cards in #523-598 were short-printed; #507-522 was not. The zone is stated as a range because the catalogs disagree on exactly which cards, so no single card is marked.
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.