The 1962 season was the inaugural year for the newly established New York Mets franchise. After the longtime New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers teams both relocated to California after the 1957 season, New York was left without a National League ballclub. In 1962, the Mets began play as part of Major League Baseball’s expansion that year as a new NL team. It was an expansion that included the Houston Colt .45s (now Houston Astros) as well.
The 1962 Mets finished their first campaign with a dismal record of 40-120, still the worst single-season winning percentage (.250) of any team in MLB history. That dreadful record was somewhat expected for an expansion team working with a roster of cast-offs and journeymen rather than established stars. Despite the team’s record, baseball fans in New York were excited to finally have “their own” team again after years without NL ball.
That excitement extended to collectors as well, with the release of the 1962 Mets’ inaugural season team set of baseball cards from Topps. The 87-card regular issue set marked the return of a New York-based team to the city’s young collectors. While light on star power, the cards still captured the novelty and anticipation surrounding the team’s debut that season.
Of the 87 total cards issued, 82 featured individual Mets players while the remaining 5 cards showed managers and coaches or playoff statistics from 1961. The designs used a green and yellow color scheme with “NEW YORK METS” stylized across the top. On the front, each card showed a black-and-white photo of the player in action alongside their position, number, name, and that inaugural 1962 season.
The back of each card contained stats from 1961 (if applicable), brief career highlights if any, and interesting personal information about the player. Though production values were still quite basic compared to modern standards, the designs captured the excitement of a new franchise taking the field. While the individual talents pictured were hardly All-Stars, the cards still resonated strongly with local collectors.
Some of the more notable Mets featured in the 1962 set included pitcher Tracy Stallard, infamous for surrendering Roger Maris’ record-breaking 61st home run that season. Other recognizable names included pitchers Al Jackson and Galen Cisco as well as infielders Elio Chacon, Ed Charles, and Frank Thomas. Most of the roster was made up of cast-offs and players just starting their MLB careers.
The 1962 Topps Mets set remains one of the most historically important issues in the company’s catalog. As the team representing the long-awaited return of National League ball to New York, it captured the initial optimism surrounding that first season – optimism that would quickly fade as the disastrous record piled up. Still, for collectors in the New York area, the hometown Mets cards were a hugely popular seller that year.
Condition and overall scarcity has pushed high-grade examples of key cards from the set like Roger Maris and Tracy Stallard into the thousands of dollars each. Even common players grade well today considering the issue’s short print run of only one year of production. A full near-mint to mint run can fetch well over $10,000 when found intact after all these years.
Though initial investor returns may have been quite meager given that 120-loss season, the 1962 Topps Mets have proven an extremely sound long-term investment for collectors. They mark a pivotal moment not just in Mets or baseball history but the entire city of New York’s relationship with its National League franchise. The cards endure as one of the finest and most desirable rookie offerings in the hobby due to their perfectly capturing that inaugural season’s sense of optimism and new beginning for Big Apple baseball fans. While the team stumbled, the collectibles retain their place in card history.
In that opening 1962 campaign, the Mets franchise finished last in the National League in both wins and losses, as well as runs scored and runs allowed. Only 40 wins versus a whopping 120 losses marked that debut season as one of the worst ever by a MLB club. But through it all, the Topps cards ensured young fans could still enjoy following their new hometown nine in card form, collecting and trading those memorable if underpowered rosters as they began their climb towards respectability
Over a half-century later, the scarcity and historical significance of those 1962 Topps New York Mets cards have cemented their place as one of the most valuable and desirable team sets within the entire baseball card collecting landscape. Even as the on-field product struggled mightily that first season, the cards captured the anticipation and excitement of Big Apple fans finally having their own team to root for once more. They remain a must-have component of any serious vintage collection commemorating that special if difficult inaugural campaign.
