1964 Topps #219 Young Aces - Al Downing / Jim Bouton
On this card: Al Downing, Jim Bouton
About this card
This is one of the eleven combo cards in the 1964 Topps set, each gathering two or more players under a headline rather than giving one man his own card.
The story on this card
Topps paired Al Downing and Jim Bouton on this Young Aces card because both were coming off strong 1963 seasons as key pieces of the Yankees rotation that reached the World Series. Downing went 13-5 with a 2.56 ERA that year, while Bouton went 21-7 with a 2.53 ERA and made the All-Star team, and each pitcher started a World Series game against the Dodgers. Card 219 is part of the third print series and shows both men as New York Yankees. Downing would go on to lead the league with 217 strikeouts in 1964, and Bouton would win both of his starts that October in the World Series against St. Louis, making the pairing a fitting label for two of the staff's brightest young arms.
Al Downing was a hard-throwing Yankees left-hander who led the American League in strikeouts in 1964 and made the 1967 All-Star team, later a 20-game winner for the Dodgers - and forever remembered as the pitcher who gave up Hank Aaron's 715th home run. Jim Bouton was the Yankees' Bulldog, a hard-throwing right-hander who won 21 games in 1963 and both of his 1964 World Series starts before an arm injury remade him as a knuckleballer and, in Ball Four, baseball's most notorious diarist.
Sources: Wikipedia (Al Downing) · Wikipedia (Jim Bouton) · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac (Al Downing) · Baseball Almanac (Jim Bouton) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 405 | 1 | 25 | 168 | 111 | 47 | 28 | 25 | 0 |
| SGC | 48 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1964 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #433 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #4 1963 American League Pitching Leaders
- #21 Yogi Berra
- #36 Hal Reniff
- #50 Mickey Mantle
- #69 Clete Boyer
- #86 Al Downing
- #100 Elston Howard
- #118 John Blanchard
- #139 World Series Game #4 - Sealing Yanks' Doom
- #164 Bud Daley
- #190 Bobby Richardson
- #206 Steve Hamilton
- #225 Roger Maris
- #259 Harry Bright
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #219 card?
It is card #219 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Downing and Jim Bouton. This is one of the eleven combo cards in the 1964 Topps set, each gathering two or more players under a headline rather than giving one man his own card.
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.