1965 Topps #318 Matty Alou
About Matty Alou
Alou's 1965 Topps card #318, a series-4 issue, reports his 1964 season with San Francisco: a .264 average, 66 hits and a then career-high 250 at-bats over 110 games. It was his first year without brother Felipe, traded to the Milwaukee Braves before the season, and it still left him short of the everyday outfield job he would not hold until Pittsburgh.
Mateo Rojas Alou, always Matty on his Topps cards, signed with the New York Giants in the winter of 1956-57 out of San Cristobal province, Dominican Republic, the middle Alou brother between Felipe and Jesus. He debuted with the San Francisco Giants in September 1960 and spent six seasons there as a part-time outfielder before the Pirates landed him for pitcher Joe Gibbon and infielder Ozzie Virgil on December 1, 1965. Pirates manager Harry Walker handed him a 38-ounce bat and rebuilt his stroke to stop pulling and slap the ball the other way; his average jumped from .231 to .342 and he won the 1966 National League batting title, edging his own brother Felipe. Four straight .330-plus seasons ran through 1969, with All-Star selections in 1968 and 1969. He played all 162 games in 1969 and led the majors with 698 at-bats, then a major league record and since surpassed, and 231 hits, the most by a National League batter since Joe Medwick in 1937. Alou earned a World Series ring with the 1972 Oakland Athletics, ten years after losing with the 1962 Giants. He later played three seasons in Japan for the Taiheiyo Club Lions, then managed, coached and scouted in the Dominican Republic, and entered the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2007.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 295 | 3 | 32 | 127 | 70 | 30 | 18 | 14 | 1 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Related cards
Team card: #379 San Francisco Giants
More San Francisco Giants cards:
- #4 National League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #6 National League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #10 National League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #32 Herman Franks
- #50 Juan Marichal
- #68 Del Crandall
- #84 Ron Herbel
- #103 Harvey Kuenn
- #118 Hal Lanier
- #159 Jim Duffalo
- #176 Willie McCovey
- #193 Gaylord Perry
- #213 Jim Davenport
- #228 Jack Sanford
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #318 card?
It is card #318 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Matty Alou of the San Francisco Giants.
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.