1964 Topps #18 Billy O'Dell
About Billy O'Dell
O'Dell's solo 1964 card, #18, a series-1 base issue, reports a 1963 season that opened with an eight-game winning streak and then stalled when he tore a ligament in his ankle and sat out several weeks. He came back to finish 14-10 with a 3.16 ERA and 116 strikeouts over 36 games, 33 of them starts. The number sits early in the first series, a common card, and ten years into his career it was nobody's rookie card.
William Oliver O'Dell was a left-handed pitcher out of Clemson who signed with Baltimore in June 1954 as their first bonus baby, reaching the majors without a day in the minors. Army service cost him 1955 and most of 1956; back in the rotation from 1957, he made the American League All-Star team in 1958 and 1959. In the 1958 game he retired all nine National League batters he faced, among them Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, closing out a 4-3 win and taking the game's most valuable player honor. Traded to San Francisco in November 1959, he peaked at 19-14 in 1962, then finished with the Braves and Pirates at 105-100 with a 3.29 ERA over thirteen seasons. Ballplayers called him "Digger," after the friendly undertaker of radio and television's The Life of Riley. He farmed near Newberry, South Carolina, worked in textile public relations, coached American Legion ball, and entered the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 1976. He died there in 2018 at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 250 | 1 | 21 | 124 | 66 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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: #257 San Francisco Giants
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #9 1963 National League Home Run Leaders
- #41 Friendly Foes
- #47 Giants 1964 Rookie Stars
- #82 Jim Davenport
- #99 Al Stanek
- #123 Jose Pagan
- #150 Willie Mays
- #169 Del Crandall
- #189 Bob Hendley
- #204 Matty Alou
- #222 Bill Pierce
- #242 Harvey Kuenn
- #280 Juan Marichal
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #18 card?
It is card #18 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Billy O'Dell of the San Francisco Giants.
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.