1967 Topps #581 Tom Seaver RC — Three Gem Mint Copies in Fifty-Nine Years — Card of the Day
PSA has graded this card 3,875 times. Three of them came back a 10.
The 1967 Topps #581 is Tom Seaver's only recognized rookie card, and it was never his alone. PSA lists it as METS ROOKIES, variety B.DENEHY/T.SEAVER — Bill Denehy first, which leaves a future Hall of Famer as the second name on the label.
What You Are Looking At
The image above is the card face inside a PSA MINT 9 holder, cert 09040701 — one of only 98 copies to reach that grade. The front is a yellow field inside a white border: "METS" in red block letters across the top left, "1967 ROOKIE STARS" in black beside it, and two framed portraits below. Denehy is on the left, Seaver on the right, both in blue caps with the orange NY, each with a facsimile autograph laid across the photo. Black name bars run underneath — BILL DENEHY • P, TOM SEAVER • P.
That construction is most of the condition story. A white border wrapped around a yellow field is unforgiving in two directions at once: the border reports every off-center cut, and the yellow shows every print speck, corner touch and edge nick that a darker field would hide. Card #581 also sits near the end of a 609-card set, the region of any 1967 run that saw the least gentle handling.
PSA Population Report
| PSA Grade | Population | Value |
|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 | 3 | — |
| PSA 9 | 98 | $21,400 |
| PSA 8 | 637 | $4,475 |
| Total Graded (All Grades) | 3,875 | — |
* Population data as of August 17, 2026.
PSA's Price Guide carries no value for the PSA 10. That absence is itself the finding: with three copies in existence and no established trade in them, there is no guide number to publish. The guide does run down the rest of the ladder — $2,075 at NM 7, $1,525 at EX-MT 6, $1,125 at EX 5.
The Gem Rate Is the Story
Three gem copies out of 3,875 submissions is a rate of roughly eight hundredths of one percent. Set that against the modern-vintage CODs this blog has run recently and the gap is not close: the 1986 Fleer Patrick Ewing rookie came in at 1.65% in CASE #0253, Magic Johnson's 1986 Fleer at 2.34% in CASE #0213, and Scottie Pippen's 1988 Fleer at 1.69% in CASE #0243. Seaver's rookie is an order of magnitude harder than cards this blog already described as condition-sensitive.
The pricing follows the scarcity exactly where you would expect. A PSA 8 sits at $4,475. A PSA 9 sits at $21,400 — nearly five times the money for one grade point. That is not a market gently rewarding condition; it is a market that has worked out that the 9 is the realistic top of this card, because the 10 effectively does not trade.
The Line on the Back
Turn the card over and 1967 has a joke at everyone's expense. Topps gives Denehy the top half and a minor league line of 22-15, a .595 winning percentage and a 2.79 ERA. Seaver gets the bottom half and 12-12, .500, 3.13. On the card that carries his rookie season, Seaver's numbers are the weaker set on the page.
The write-up beside them is more prescient. "Tom won 3 out of his first 4 ballgames for the New York Mets this season," it reads. "The rookie righthander clinched a job after performing sensationally in the spring exhibitions. He has only one year of minor league experience behind him."
Verdict: a Hall of Fame rookie card that shares its front, loses the statistical argument on its own back, and has surrendered exactly three gem copies in fifty-nine years. The PSA 9 at $21,400 is not the consolation grade here — it is the ceiling that collectors can actually reach.
