A Guide to Tom Seaver’s Rookie Card
Tom Seaver’s 1967 Topps rookie card paints a picture of what-could-have-beens.
- What could have been if Bill Denehy, who shares half of card #581 with Seaver, hadn’t blown out his arm weeks into his major-league career and made good on his prospect promise?
- What could have been if Seaver had needed one more year to develop and had instead gotten paired with Nolan Ryan in the 1968 Topps set?
- What could have been if Seaver had remained with the Atlanta Braves, who originally signed him, and this card looked completely different as he pitched for a team anchored by Henry Aaron?
While the legendary status of those what-could-have-been scenarios are fun to think about, the reality is that “Tom Terrific’s” rookie card does very well for itself as is.
A Guide to Tom Seaver’s Rookie Card and Early-Career Issues
Seaver only has one Beckett-defined rookie card – the 1967 Topps issue. However, the beloved Hall of Famer also appears by himself on a rare 1967 Mets postcard – the only issue from his rookie year that features Seaver alone, making it a favorite among collectors who have found one.
1967 Topps #581 Tom Seaver Rookie Card
Hailing from the short-printed seventh series of the 1967 Topps set, Seaver strikes a pleasant but serious pose on the Mets 1967 Rookie Stars card. Because of the notorious high-number scarcity and Seaver’s star power and popularity, this card carries the second-highest value of any 1960s baseball rookie card in Beckett’s Online Price Guide, trailing only Pete Rose’s 1963 Topps rookie and matching the value of Ryan’s 1968 Topps rookie.
Shop for the 1967 Topps #581 Tom Seaver RC on eBay
By 1967, Topps had declared collecting baseball cards as the “biggest summertime hobby” for children ages 7-12.1
That same year, the Mets had tabbed Seaver as one of their biggest future stars, sending him to the mound for his major-league debut in the second game of the season. With eight strikeouts over 5⅓ innings in a no-decision, the 22-year-old Seaver showed resilience by stranding eight runners in the first four innings.
The right-hander earned his first career victory against the Chicago Cubs his next time out and followed that effort with a four-hitter in a 10-inning complete game, again over the Cubs.
Seaver narrowly lost his final outing of April – he gave up three runs in a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds – but Topps deemed his quick start good enough to give him a place in its 1967 set.
Topps printed smaller batches of high-numbered cards, which usually came out closer to the end of the baseball season after kids returned to school and the summer frenzy of collecting had cooled.
Seaver’s rookie has a reputation for centering issues. That, combined with an easily chipped green-bordered back, makes finding high-grade examples a challenge.
On the flip side of his rookie card, the company notes that Seaver had won three of his first four ballgames (the Mets won in his debut). Topps also informed collectors that Seaver had earned a roster spot after a sensational spring, despite only a single season in the minor leagues.
You wouldn’t know it by reading Denehy’s write-up on the back of the Topps card, but he actually had more prospect pedigree going into 1967 than Seaver, who eventually won 311 games and earned first-ballot induction into the Hall of Fame in 1992 with what was then the highest percentage of votes (98.8%).
A freak arm injury in Denehy’s fourth start of the season was the first of many setbacks in a brief career that ultimately drove him to addiction. He overcame those perils in 1992, but the effects had left him legally blind for many years before his death at age 79 on June 27, 2025.
So, while the Mets would have preferred that Seaver and Denehy had become a dominant pitching tandem, they are instead forever connected by a piece of cardboard cherished by thousands of collectors – and by the man who played second fiddle.
“He was someone I’m proud was a friend and teammate,” Denehy said after Seaver’s death on August 31, 2020, “and I’m especially proud that forever and ever in history, they’ll never be able to change that rookie card.
“You know, when he got into the Hall of Fame, I asked the Mets for his address and sent out a card to him: ‘Congratulations on getting into the Hall of Fame. It’s about time you held up your side of the card.’”
Of course, Denehy’s comment was made in jest, as Seaver became the first righty ever to win three Cy Young awards and added five strikeout crowns as one of the best pitchers in baseball throughout the 1970s.
“He was a good friend,” Denehy added. “A terrific competitor, a terrific teammate. There wasn’t a time when we were together when we weren’t pulling for each other.
“He was the greatest New York Mets player.”2
Bonus Pick: 1967 New York Mets Postcards #5 Tom Seaver
From 1965-67, a local New Jersey printing company teamed up with the Mets to print collections of postcard-sized pictures of select players – and that included a Tom Seaver offering during his rookie season.
Shop for the 1967 Mets Postcards #5 Tom Seaver on eBay
B&E Color Advertising was a vendor of all things business printing. The company offered business cards, color postcards, brochures, and other types of commercial photography from its Haledon, New Jersey, office.
Advertisements printed in 1965 editions of the Paterson News (New Jersey) show that B&E offered packs of five Mets postcards for 50 cents.3 Similar ads could not be found for the 1967 edition of the photos.
Today, finding any example of Seaver’s card from B&E’s 1967 set is a challenge. The scarce offering has a pair of variations – one with a Mets logo on the reverse and one without it – but fervent Seaver collectors get excited anytime they see either version.
Beckett has graded only two examples of the card – both registering BGS 5 designations.
Worth Mentioning: 1968 Topps #45 Tom Seaver
As the 1967 season wound down and it came time for the annual Topps All-Star Rookie voting, Seaver finished tied for the most votes among right-handed pitchers (179) with St. Louis’ Dick Hughes, a one-year wonder who finished as runner-up to Seaver in Rookie of the Year voting.
With his All-Star Rookie selection, Seaver’s 1968 Topps card features the tall Gold Cup emblem on the front, helping make it the fourth most valuable non-rookie card in that set.
Shop for the 1968 Topps #45 Tom Seaver on eBay
Some other 1968 issues of Seaver include:
- 1968 Bazooka #53 Tom Seaver
- 1968 O-Pee-Chee #45 Tom Seaver
- 1968 Topps Milton Bradley #45 Tom Seaver
- 1968 Topps Venezuelan #45 Tom Seaver
Hand-cut 1968 Bazooka #53 Tom Seaver
Two years after his breakout rookie season, Seaver endeared himself to Mets fans as the ace of the 1969 “Miracle Mets,” a lovable bunch of players who unexpectedly won 100 games and the World Series.
From there, Seaver appeared in every flagship Topps set and many more products through 1987, the year after he closed a 20-year career that resulted in 12 All-Star selections and 3,640 strikeouts – and a lot of fans and collectors, who still love the man posthumously.
“This is my whole life. This is what I want to do,” Seaver said during his rookie campaign. “I want to pitch in the major leagues.”4
And, boy, did he ever.
Cited Sources
- Dave Mona, “Baseball Umpire, 11, Hollers ‘Play Cards’” Minneapolis Tribune, August 27, 1967: 10H. ↩︎
- Dom Amore, “Denehy Talks About His Time With a Mets Legend,” Hartford Courant, September 8, 2020: C5. ↩︎
- “Mets Fans” Advertisement, Paterson News, November 24, 1965: 25. ↩︎
- Jack Lang, “Seaver Concentrates on Winning,” The Jersey Journal, April 26, 1967: 38. ↩︎
