1968 Topps #563 Ed Charles
About Ed Charles
Card #563 is Charles's first Topps card as a Met, a high number from the seventh series. It reports a split 1967: .246 in 19 games for Kansas City before the May trade, then .238 with three home runs and 31 RBI in 101 games in New York, where he became the 32nd different third baseman in the young franchise's six-year history.
Ed Charles signed with the Boston Braves in 1952 and opened his career with Quebec City. With Eddie Mathews at third base in Milwaukee, Charles spent eight seasons in the Braves' farm system, much of it in the segregated South, where he wrote poetry about baseball and racism; 1954 and part of 1955 went to military service. A December 1961 trade sent him to Kansas City with Joe Azcue and Manny Jimenez, and he reached the majors a decade after signing. He never made an All-Star team, yet he left as the Kansas City Athletics' career leader in games played and total bases. Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman called him 'The Glider' for his economy of motion at third. In Game Two of the 1969 World Series he scored the go-ahead run, then slid over to stop Brooks Robinson's ninth-inning grounder down the line and threw to first for that game's final out. He batted .263 with 86 home runs and 421 RBI, later spent decades supervising young offenders for New York City, and is in the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 264 | 6 | 56 | 134 | 43 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 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. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #563 card?
It is card #563 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Charles of the New York Mets.
Is 1968 Topps #563 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #534-598, by the checklist-card division. The last two series together (#458-598) carry only a modest premium; no short-print list exists.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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 2026-10-12.