1963 Topps #311 Joe McClain
About Joe McClain
Joe McClain's last Topps card is number 311 in the 1963 set, a fourth-series card. It still lists him with the Washington Senators, but by the time collectors pulled it he was not a big leaguer at all. He spent 1963 in the International League with the Richmond Virginians, a Yankees farm club, and it came to four appearances and ten innings before he was finished. That closed a minor league ledger of 71-63 and a 3.68 ERA across 247 games, a road that had started in 1953 with the Johnson City Cardinals in his own hometown.
Joseph Fred McClain, born May 5, 1933, in Johnson City, Tennessee, was a 6-foot right-hander who pitched at the University of Tennessee and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953. Military service cost him the 1954 and 1955 seasons, and he then worked through the farm systems of the Cardinals, the New York Yankees and the original Washington Senators, the club that became the Minnesota Twins. The expansion Senators took him in the minor league phase of the 1960 expansion draft, off the Charleston roster where he had just thrown 223 innings. He was 27 when he finally reached the majors, and he made it count: his debut on April 14, 1961, a complete game against the Cleveland Indians at Griffith Stadium, gave the expansion franchise the first win in its history. It bought him one full year in a big league rotation and no more. His two major league seasons, both in Washington, produced an 8-22 record and a 4.42 earned run average, and he threw his last professional innings for Triple-A Richmond in 1963.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 217 | 0 | 34 | 97 | 62 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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: #131 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #47 Don Lock
- #69 Bud Zipfel
- #94 Bob Schmidt
- #121 Jim Hannan
- #149 Marv Breeding
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #171 Steve Hamilton
- #176 Jim King
- #219 Chuck Cottier
- #243 Don Leppert
- #263 Dave Stenhouse
- #276 Barry Shetrone
- #291 Don Rudolph
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #311 card?
It is card #311 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe McClain of the Washington Senators.
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.