1964 Topps #144 Al Worthington
About Al Worthington
1964 Topps #144 shows Worthington as a Red, but he did not stay one long: a 10.29 ERA over six April outings sent him down to San Diego, by then Cincinnati's Triple-A club. He went 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA there, and on June 26 the Minnesota Twins bought his contract in a straight cash deal. The move made his career. He allowed no earned run in his first 20 appearances for Minnesota and closed the year with a 1.37 ERA and 14 saves in 41 Twins games, work Sports Illustrated called impressive. Card #144 sits in the second print series.
Al Worthington was born February 5, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of ten children; two older brothers played minor-league ball. He pitched at the University of Alabama, signed with Nashville in 1951 for $1,500, and reached the New York Giants in July 1953, opening his career with back-to-back shutouts. Over 14 seasons he pitched for the Giants, Red Sox, White Sox, Reds and Twins, going 75-82 with a 3.39 ERA and 110 saves in 602 games. He was on the roster for the Giants' 1954 World Series sweep but never got into it. A sinkerballer who added a slider and curve, he became a born-again Christian at a 1958 Billy Graham crusade in San Francisco; in 1959 he confronted Giants manager Bill Rigney about a man stealing signs from the grandstand with binoculars, and in September 1960 he left the White Sox outright rather than pitch for a club that was doing the same. His best years came as Minnesota's closer, including the 1965 pennant winners. He coached Twins pitchers in 1972 and 1973, then built Liberty University's baseball program from scratch across thirteen seasons. He is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, not the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died June 18, 2026, at 97.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 223 | 0 | 26 | 121 | 44 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: #403 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #5 1963 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #33 Reds 1964 Rookie Stars
- #49 Bill Henry
- #72 Chico Cardenas
- #80 Vada Pinson
- #106 Joe Nuxhall
- #125 Pete Rose
- #162 Hitting Area
- #166 Marty Keough
- #185 Jim O'Toole
- #207 Fred Hutchinson
- #233 Hal Smith
- #260 Frank Robinson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #144 card?
It is card #144 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Worthington of the Cincinnati Reds.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, Baseball Almanac, 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 2026-10-11.