The 1962 Topps base set of baseball cards featured 600 total cards with the standard 524 players cards along with 76 non-players cards featuring team logo/mascots, managers, umpires, ballparks, and league leaders from the 1961 season. While the base set may not have included any true short prints compared to modern definitions, it did feature some cards that were significantly rarer pulls from wax packs of cards found in boxes of Kellogg’s, Post, and General Mills cereals during that era.
Three specific cards from the 1962 Topps set stand out as being notably more difficult to acquire than the other cards in the set due to lower print runs – cards #130 Dick Stuart, #139 Gene Oliver, and #560 Bill Virdon. These cards have retroactively become regarded by collectors as the short prints of the 1962 Topps set despite not technically being short printed in the modern collector sense of only being found in a small percentage of wax packs.
Card #130 featuring Boston Red Sox slugger Dick Stuart is considered the key short print of the 1962 Topps set. Stuart was a formidable power hitter during his career that saw him play for six different teams between 1955-1969. In 1961 while with the Red Sox, Stuart led the American League with a .308 batting average and hit 25 home runs. His impressive season led to his inclusion in the 1962 Topps set as one of the more prominent players featured. For reasons unknown, card #130 picturing Stuart in a Red Sox uniform was printed in a much lower quantity than the rest of the base cards that year. Finding a high grade example of this card in a collector’s 1962 Topps set is quite rare.
Similarly, card #139 featuring backup catcher Gene Oliver of the Kansas City Athletics is also considered a significant short print of the 1962 issue. Oliver had a relatively short and unremarkable major league career spanning 1959-1963 where he backed up starting catchers for four different franchises. As a lesser known part-time player, his card was likely overlooked by Topps to be printed in lesser numbers compared to bigger name stars. Today, the Oliver card is one of the toughest 1962 cards to acquire in any grade.
The third and final major short print from 1962 Topps acknowledged by collectors is card #560 featuring Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Bill Virdon. A seasoned veteran by 1962, Virdon was a career .267 hitter who won a Gold Glove in 1960 as part of the Pirates world championship team. Despite his credentials, Virdon’s 1962 issue card was seemingly under-printed. Like the Stuart and Oliver shorts prints before it, finding the Virdon card with the familiar classic Pirates cap logo in pristine condition is a real prize for collectors of the entire 660 card run from that year.
While short print bugs and error card aficionados had little documented evidence of significantly rarer cards to chase back in the 1960s, the hobby has since placed emphasis on the Stuart, Oliver, and Virdon issues from the 1962 Topps set as recognizable keys to completing an entire high grade team or run. Each command premium prices relative to the other standard issue cards from that season. Condition census registries have been compiled to track the highest graded examples known to exist with the Stuart short print considered among the true holy grails for vintage collectors.
While Topps teams at the time may not have intentionally printed specific cards in lower quantities like modern short prints, their distribution practices did inadvertently create three clear standouts as notable short prints based on sheer scarcity and demand decades later. For dedicated vintage collectors chasing complete rainbow sets with all cards in the coveted Near Mint to Mint condition, hunting down high grade examples of these 1962 Topps Stuart, Oliver, and Virdon short prints can prove an especially rewarding and challenging side quest within completing the entire original 600 card run. Their legacy as some of the earliest acknowledged short prints within the hobby endures sixty years after the set first made its way into supermarket packs across America.
