1963 Topps #123 Frank Howard
About Frank Howard
#123 falls in the 1963 second series, a plain number in the run. Howard began that spring in glasses, a late fix for eyesight that had been failing him at the plate, and hit .384 in April before slumps in May and June cost him the everyday right field job to Wally Moon. He still led the club with 28 home runs, batted .273 with 64 RBIs, and set a Dodgers record with 116 strikeouts. Then came October: facing Whitey Ford in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium, he put a slow curve into the second deck in left, a fifth-inning solo home run that broke a scoreless tie in a 2-1 win and completed the four-game sweep of the Yankees.
Frank Oliver Howard, born August 8, 1936 in Columbus, Ohio, was one of the most physically imposing sluggers the game has seen, listed at 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds and heavier still in later years. An All-American in both basketball and baseball at Ohio State, he was drafted by the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors but signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958 for a $108,000 bonus. After The Sporting News named him its 1959 Minor League Player of the Year, he took over in right field and won the 1960 National League Rookie of the Year award; he later homered off Whitey Ford in Game 4 of the Dodgers' 1963 World Series sweep. Traded to the Washington Senators in December 1964, he became the franchise's biggest draw, twice leading the American League in home runs and making four straight All-Star teams from 1968 through 1971. Teammates tagged him "Hondo" in 1958 after the John Wayne film; in Washington he added "the Capital Punisher" and "the Washington Monument." He retired after the 1973 season with 382 home runs and 1,119 RBIs, coached and managed in the majors for most of the next two decades, entered the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor in 2016, and died in 2023 at 87.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 363 | 0 | 12 | 119 | 122 | 63 | 21 | 26 | 0 |
| SGC | 45 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 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.
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Related cards
Team card: #337 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #11 Lee Walls
- #53 Joe Moeller
- #68 Friendly Foes
- #80 Jim Gilliam
- #105 Ron Fairly
- #150 Johnny Podres
- #154 Walt Alston
- #180 Bill Skowron
- #196 Doug Camilli
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #123 card?
It is card #123 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Howard of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: 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.