1965 Topps #450 Elston Howard
About Elston Howard
Howard hurt his elbow in spring training, and by April 13 it was too swollen to bend; surgeons removed bone chips, and he did not catch again until June 13. He worked 95 games behind the plate the rest of the way on a sore arm and finished at .233 with nine home runs and 45 RBI in 110 games, the lowest average of his career. Two 1965 Topps cards carry him: #1, a first-series League Leaders subject shared with Tony Oliva and Brooks Robinson, and #450, a sixth-series base card.
Elston Howard was born February 23, 1929, in St. Louis and signed out of Vashon High School with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1948. The New York Yankees bought his contract in July 1950; Army service during the Korean War cost him two seasons, and a Most Valuable Player year at Triple-A Toronto in 1954 finished his apprenticeship. On April 14, 1955, he became the first Black player to appear for the Yankees. Casey Stengel used him as a spare catcher, outfielder and first baseman behind Yogi Berra, but he took over the majority of the catching in 1960 and grew into one of the American League's finest receivers, winning Gold Gloves in 1963 and 1964. The 1963 season brought him the league's Most Valuable Player Award, the first won by a Black player in the American League. He was picked for nine straight All-Star teams from 1957 through 1965, appeared in ten World Series - nine with New York and a last one with Boston - and won four championships as a player. He finished up with the Red Sox in 1968, then came back to coach first base for the Yankees as the American League's first Black coach. He died in 1980 at 51.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 534 | 3 | 49 | 188 | 130 | 64 | 43 | 55 | 2 |
| SGC | 73 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 6 |
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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Related cards
More Elston Howard in this set: #1 League Leaders
Team card: #513 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #1 American League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #11 American League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #13 Pedro Ramos
- #30 Jim Bouton
- #65 Tony Kubek
- #97 Pedro Gonzalez
- #115 Bobby Richardson
- #131 Johnny Keane
- #133 World Series Game #2 - Stottlemyre Wins
- #134 World Series Game #3 - Mantle's Clutch HR
- #137 World Series Game #6 - Bouton Wins Again
- #155 Roger Maris
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #450 card?
It is card #450 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Elston Howard of the New York Yankees.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.