1962 Topps #278 Ken Johnson
About Ken Johnson
Houston took Ken Johnson with the 29th pick of the October 1961 expansion draft, and this third-series card, #278, is the first of four Topps issues to show him in Houston colors. Behind it sits the rescue of his career. Cincinnati acquired him on July 21, 1961, and with a knuckleball added to his repertoire he made 11 starts down the stretch, won six and lost two, threw three complete games and his first big-league shutout, and watched the Reds take the National League pennant by four games. His World Series lasted two batters: Elston Howard and Bill Skowron, both retired in relief in Game 5.
Ken Johnson (Kenneth Travis Johnson), born June 16, 1933, in West Palm Beach, Florida, was a 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher who spent 13 major-league seasons, 1958 through 1970, with seven clubs: the Kansas City Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt .45s/Astros, Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, and Montreal Expos. Naturally left-handed, he threw right-handed because a right-handed glove was the only one his father could find for him as a boy. He debuted for Kansas City on September 13, 1958, and spent almost a decade in the Philadelphia/Kansas City organization before a mid-1961 move to Cincinnati and a new knuckleball finally settled him as a big-league starter. He is remembered as the only pitcher in major-league history to lose a complete-game, nine-inning no-hitter, a 1-0 defeat to Cincinnati on April 23, 1964, while pitching for Houston. Johnson also appeared in the 1961 World Series for the pennant-winning Reds. He finished 91-106 with a 3.46 ERA, 50 complete games and 1,042 strikeouts over 1,737 1/3 innings, and died November 21, 2015, in Pineville, Louisiana.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 178 | 1 | 4 | 69 | 73 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. Slabs of the three cards printed #139 are joined by description, never by number alone. PSA registers the green tints as a separate set; a tint's population is listed under that state of the card it belongs to.
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- #204 Johnny Weekly
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- #304 Dick Farrell
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #278 card?
It is card #278 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45's.
How many cards are in the 1962 Topps Baseball set?
600 cards, tracked as 708 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps, but three different cards were printed #139 - two Hal Reniff poses, catalogued 139a and 139b, and the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, 139c - so 598 numbers make 600 cards; 93 cards carry catalogued print variations, the series-2 green tints among them, that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Baseball Almanac, Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, The Topps Archives, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-03.