1964 Topps Curt Flood and 1961 Topps 242 Hal Smith

[JollyElm]

I don't have a specific answer to your question, but I will say this. A lot of times collectors have the 'rare' cards they own graded, while leaving the common/less 'valuable' cards alone. This might be the case here, or maybe it's an insight into the actual reason. Just because similar amounts of these cards have been graded as compared to other cards in the set doesn't preclude them from being something of a rarity.

For instance, the 1952 Andy Pafko is always talked about for it's rarity and/or value, but if you look it up, I believe close to 900 of them have been graded. Many/most of the other cards in the set hover around the 200-300's graded mark. Same goes for the 1967 Brooks Robinson high number. A ton of those have been graded--exponentially greater than the totals of other cards--so it makes you wonder how rare it actually is.

Dunno, might be something here.