1964 Topps #128 Mickey Lolich
About Mickey Lolich
Lolich broke through in 1964, his first full season in the Detroit rotation, going 18-9 with a 3.26 ERA and 192 strikeouts in 44 games, 33 of them starts. New manager Charlie Dressen had spotted him tipping his pitches, raising his arms higher on the fastball, and helped him rebuild his windup. He threw his first big league shutout at Minnesota in April, and on September 9 he blanked the Yankees and his boyhood idol Whitey Ford 4-0 while striking out 12. His six shutouts ranked fourth in the American League and his strikeouts fifth. Card 128, a second series card, is his rookie card and the key Lolich card of this set.
Mickey Lolich was a left-handed pitcher who spent 13 of his 16 major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, debuting in 1963 after growing up in Portland, Oregon, where a toddler accident with a tipped-over motorcycle broke his left collarbone and pushed him toward throwing left-handed. He was a flamethrowing wildman in the minors and only found his control in 1962 with the Portland Beavers, after refusing a demotion and flying home. From 1964 through 1974 he won at least 14 games every season and struck out 200 or more batters seven times. His best year was 1971, when he led the American League with 25 wins, 308 strikeouts, 29 complete games and 376 innings pitched and finished runner-up to Vida Blue for the Cy Young Award. A three-time All-Star, he is best remembered for the 1968 World Series, when he won three complete games against St. Louis, including a 4-1 Game 7 decision over Bob Gibson on two days of rest, and was named Series MVP. He retired in 1979 with 217 wins and 2,832 strikeouts, then the most by a left-hander in major league history. He is not a National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee; the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame took him in 1982. He died in February 2026 at age 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 831 | 5 | 46 | 184 | 194 | 183 | 92 | 126 | 1 |
| SGC | 143 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 24 | 36 | 37 | 31 | 2 |
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: #67 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #6 1963 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #8 1963 American League Batting Leaders
- #12 1963 American League R.B.I. Leaders
- #19 Don Wert
- #39 Hank Aguirre
- #58 Don Demeter
- #98 Bill Bruton
- #143 Bubba Phillips
- #165 Jerry Lumpe
- #181 Dave Wickersham
- #197 Frank Lary
- #236 Bill Faul
- #250 Al Kaline
- #272 Jake Wood
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #128 card?
It is card #128 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers.
Is 1964 Topps #128 a rookie card?
Yes - #128 is the 1964 Topps rookie card of Mickey Lolich.
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.