1965 Topps #311 Orlando Pena
The card back gives his birth year as 1935; he was born in 1933.
Uncorrected error: Back gives Pena's birth year as 1935, should be 1933
About Orlando Pena
The series-4 #311 is Pena's last Topps card in Kansas City colors. He opened 1965 at 0-6 with a 6.88 ERA, and a 5-4 loss to the White Sox on May 18 proved to be his final start for the Athletics; Detroit claimed him off waivers on June 23 and moved him to the bullpen, where he went 4-6 with four saves and a 2.51 ERA in 30 relief outings. Of the 82 starts he made for Kansas City from August 1962 on, those five were the last. The card back misstates his birth year as 1935 - he was born in 1933.
Orlando Gregorio Pena was born November 17, 1933, in Victoria de las Tunas, Cuba, and worked as a butcher in his father's supermarket before baseball took over. He was one of three players signed out of a 1955 Cincinnati tryout camp in Havana, and he climbed through the Florida State, Carolina and International leagues to a major league debut on August 24, 1958, retiring six straight Dodgers in relief and getting the win. A slight right-hander at 5-11 and 154 pounds, he leaned on a forkball he had learned from Elroy Face and was accused often enough of loading the ball that he admitted throwing a few. Cincinnati shuttled him back to Triple-A, and it was the Kansas City Athletics, who got him from the Milwaukee organization in August 1962, that finally handed him a rotation spot. From 1965 on he was a reliever, and a persistent one: eight clubs - Reds, Athletics, Tigers, Indians, Pirates, Orioles, Cardinals, Angels - across 14 seasons through 1975, finishing 56-77 with a 3.71 ERA, 40 saves and 818 strikeouts in 427 games. He scouted for the Tigers and White Sox afterward and is a member of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame, inducted in 2000.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 244 | 2 | 21 | 118 | 64 | 25 | 9 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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: #151 Kansas City Athletics
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- #87 Nelson Mathews
- #117 Wes Stock
- #168 Dick Green
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- #219 Bob Meyer
- #239 Doc Edwards
- #266 Bert Campaneris
- #286 Athletics 1965 Rookie Stars
- #333 Tommie Reynolds
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #311 card?
It is card #311 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Orlando Pena of the Kansas City Athletics.
Does 1965 Topps #311 have an error?
Back gives Pena's birth year as 1935, should be 1933. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #311 reads the same way.
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.