1965 Topps #148 Willie Kirkland
About Willie Kirkland
Number 148 falls in the second series of Topps' 1965 set and catches Kirkland in his first full season with the Washington Senators. He moved all over the outfield, 66 games in right, 33 in left and seven in center, and came off the bench for 37 pinch-hitting appearances. His 14 home runs, 54 RBI and .231 average in 123 games made this his most productive year since he left Cleveland. It was also the last season in which he would take more than 300 at-bats in the majors.
Willie Charles Kirkland, nicknamed Boom Boom, was born February 17, 1934, in Siluria, Alabama, and raised in Detroit. A right fielder and a powerful left-handed hitter, he signed with the New York Giants out of Northwestern High School and piled up home runs in the minors before losing all of 1957 to military service. He broke in with the transplanted San Francisco Giants in 1958, batting cleanup behind Willie Mays in the club's first official West Coast game and collecting a single and an RBI in an 8-0 win over the Dodgers at Seals Stadium on April 15. He held the Giants' regular right-field job through 1960, and then a trade sent him to Cleveland, where he had his best big-league season in 1961. Over nine major-league seasons with the Giants, Indians, Orioles and Senators he batted .240 with 837 hits, 148 home runs and 509 RBI in 1,149 games. His playing days ran longer than that: after a 34-homer year for the Pacific Coast League's Hawaii Islanders in 1967, he spent six seasons with Japan's Hanshin Tigers, adding 126 more home runs across a 20-year professional career.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 275 | 6 | 50 | 144 | 58 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 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: #267 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #21 Don Blasingame
- #38 Jim King
- #56 Ron Kline
- #86 Les Narum
- #99 Gil Hodges
- #129 Bennie Daniels
- #152 Phil Ortega
- #181 Senators 1965 Rookie Stars
- #211 Steve Ridzik
- #224 Bob Chance
- #233 Don Zimmer
- #252 Pete Richert
- #284 Nick Willhite
- #304 Dave Stenhouse
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #148 card?
It is card #148 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Willie Kirkland of the Washington Senators.
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.