1964 Topps #371 Frank Howard
About Frank Howard
#371 sits in the 1964 fifth series. It caught his last year in Los Angeles. Howard started the first 49 games and hit only .215 despite 14 home runs, then began sitting against right-handers and finished at .226 with 24 home runs in 433 at-bats. Walter Alston and Buzzie Bavasi had decided they could not win in Dodger Stadium with power, and when Howard asked to be traded they obliged: on December 4, 1964 he went to the Washington Senators in a multi-player deal that brought pitcher Claude Osteen to Los Angeles.
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 · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 298 | 5 | 35 | 124 | 59 | 49 | 16 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 27 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 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: #531 L. A. Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #1 1963 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #3 1963 National League Pitching Leaders
- #5 1963 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #7 1963 National League Batting Leaders
- #14 Dodgers 1964 Rookie Stars
- #30 Ron Perranoski
- #51 Pete Richert
- #68 Willie Davis
- #88 John Roseboro
- #101 Walt Alston
- #120 Don Drysdale
- #136 World Series Game #1 - Koufax Strikes Out 15
- #137 World Series Game #2 - Davis Sparks Rally
- #138 World Series Game #3 - L.A. Takes 3rd Straight
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #371 card?
It is card #371 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Howard of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Why is #371 harder to find?
It is a series 5-6 card. Cards from the fifth and sixth print series (#371-522) are a step tougher to find than #1-370; availability in 1964 runs in three tiers, not a cliff.
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.