1964 Topps #420 Jim Maloney
About Jim Maloney
Three 1964 cards, and none of them is a rookie card. Two are first-series League Leaders entries earned by his 1963 work: #3 places him with Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn, while #5 sets his strikeout total beside Koufax and Don Drysdale. His own card, #420, is a fifth-series number, and the season it covers opened badly - a muscle strain ended a no-hit bid after six innings against Koufax on April 18, and he stood 3-7 after the Reds' fiftieth game - before a 12-3 finish over the last three months left him 15-10 with a 2.71 ERA and 214 strikeouts.
James William Maloney was born in Fresno, California, on June 2, 1940, and was scouted as a shortstop by all sixteen major league clubs before Reds scout Bobby Mattick talked him into pitching. He signed with Cincinnati on April 1, 1959 for a reported $100,000 bonus and reached the majors on July 27, 1960, still 20 years old. Over twelve seasons with the Reds (1960-1970) and the California Angels (1971) he went 134-84 with a 3.19 ERA and 1,605 strikeouts, throwing 74 complete games, 30 of them shutouts. He struck out more than 200 batters every year from 1963 through 1966, threw two no-hitters, and lost a third no-hit bid in the eleventh inning. Chronic arm and shoulder trouble wore him down, and a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered running out a ground ball early in 1970 finished him as a winning pitcher just as the Big Red Machine was taking shape. He retired in 1972 at 32 and was elected in 1973 to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, the club's own honor.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 236 | 0 | 36 | 120 | 54 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 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
More Jim Maloney in this set: #3 League Leaders, #5 League Leaders
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
- #144 Al Worthington
- #162 Hitting Area
- #166 Marty Keough
- #185 Jim O'Toole
- #207 Fred Hutchinson
- #233 Hal Smith
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #420 card?
It is card #420 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds.
Why is #420 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.