1965 Topps #343 Mike McCormick
About Mike McCormick
Card #343 pictures an Oriole who had already been traded away. Baltimore used him four times in 1964, 0-2 with a 5.19 earned run average in 17 1/3 innings, then sent him to Rochester in May, the first minor-league assignment of his life at twenty-five. A cortisone shot there killed the pain and he won eight of his last nine decisions. On April 4, 1965, days before Opening Day, the Orioles shipped him to Washington for Steve Herman and $20,000. This fourth-series number is his last card in Baltimore's uniform.
Mike McCormick was born September 29, 1938, in Pasadena, California, and signed with the New York Giants on August 31, 1956, for a $50,000 bonus out of Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra. The bonus rule kept such a signing on the big-league roster, so the left-hander debuted four days later at seventeen, having never pitched in the minors. Sixteen seasons followed: the New York and San Francisco Giants (1956-1962 and 1967-1970), the Baltimore Orioles (1963-1964), the Washington Senators (1965-1966), the New York Yankees (1970) and the Kansas City Royals (1971). He led the National League with a 2.70 earned run average in 1960 and made all four All-Star squads of 1960 and 1961, when the majors staged two games a summer. A ruined shoulder nearly finished him at twenty-four; he rebuilt himself around a screwball and went 22-10 in 1967 to win San Francisco's first Cy Young Award and The Sporting News awards for Pitcher of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year. He retired with 134 wins, 128 losses, a 3.73 ERA, 1,321 strikeouts and 23 shutouts in 484 games, sold securities and then office equipment, and died June 13, 2020, at 81 in North Carolina. He is not a National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee; the Giants honor him on their Wall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 242 | 1 | 42 | 113 | 59 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1965 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: #572 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #1 American League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #9 American League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Robin Roberts
- #33 Jackie Brandt
- #49 Orioles 1965 Rookie Stars
- #67 Harvey Haddix
- #94 Charlie Lau
- #113 Steve Barber
- #150 Brooks Robinson
- #169 Dave Vineyard
- #188 Sam Bowens
- #204 Russ Snyder
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #343 card?
It is card #343 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike McCormick of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.