1965 Topps #76 Sam McDowell
The card back prints McDowell's birth year as 1945; he was born in 1942.
Uncorrected error: Back gives McDowell's birth year as 1945, should be 1942
About Sam McDowell
This was the year Sudden Sam arrived: 17-11 with a league-best 2.18 ERA, 14 complete games and 325 strikeouts in 273 innings, a Cleveland single-season figure still second only to Bob Feller's 348 from 1946. The wildness had not left - his 132 walks also led the American League - but in July he made the first of six All-Star teams, pitching two innings and taking the loss. Card #76 is a first-series card. Collectors know its back for an error, which gives his birth year as 1945 when he was born in 1942.
Sam McDowell, born September 21, 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher who spent fifteen major league seasons, 1961 through 1975, mostly with the Cleveland Indians. Rated the country's top schoolboy prospect out of Pittsburgh's Central Catholic High School, he signed with Cleveland in 1960 for a $75,000 bonus and reached the majors six days before his 19th birthday. A six-time All-Star, he led the American League in strikeouts five times and won the 1965 ERA title, and in 1970 he topped 300 innings and 300 strikeouts while going 20-12, earning The Sporting News AL Pitcher of the Year award. Control trouble shadowed all of it - he led the league in walks five times as well - and injuries and alcoholism wore down the back end of his career through stops with the Giants, Yankees and Pirates. He retired with a 141-134 record, a 3.17 ERA and 2,453 strikeouts. He got sober in the early 1980s, earned associate degrees in sports psychology and addiction at the University of Pittsburgh, and later worked as an addiction counselor for the Rangers and Blue Jays. He is a member of the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame, the franchise's own team hall.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 359 | 1 | 41 | 163 | 88 | 23 | 24 | 19 | 0 |
| SGC | 36 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 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: #481 Cleveland Indians
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- #128 Vic Davalillo
- #145 Luis Tiant
- #166 Indians 1965 Rookie Stars
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #76 card?
It is card #76 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Sam McDowell of the Cleveland Indians.
Does 1965 Topps #76 have an error?
Back gives McDowell's birth year as 1945, should be 1942. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #76 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.