1966 Topps #181 Al Worthington
About Al Worthington
1966 Topps #181 catches Worthington deep into his run as Minnesota's closer. The Twins slipped to second, nine games behind Baltimore, but his own line held up: 65 appearances, 46 of them finished, a 6-3 record, 16 saves and a 2.46 ERA over 91 1/3 innings. He struck out 93 that season against just 27 walks, better than nine strikeouts per nine innings and the highest rate of any year he pitched, unusual bat-missing for a 37-year-old sinkerballer. Card #181 falls in the second print series.
Al Worthington was born February 5, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of ten children; two older brothers played minor-league ball. He pitched at the University of Alabama, signed with Nashville in 1951 for $1,500, and reached the New York Giants in July 1953, opening his career with back-to-back shutouts. Over 14 seasons he pitched for the Giants, Red Sox, White Sox, Reds and Twins, going 75-82 with a 3.39 ERA and 110 saves in 602 games. He was on the roster for the Giants' 1954 World Series sweep but never got into it. A sinkerballer who added a slider and curve, he became a born-again Christian at a 1958 Billy Graham crusade in San Francisco; in 1959 he confronted Giants manager Bill Rigney about a man stealing signs from the grandstand with binoculars, and in September 1960 he left the White Sox outright rather than pitch for a club that was doing the same. His best years came as Minnesota's closer, including the 1965 pennant winners. He coached Twins pitchers in 1972 and 1973, then built Liberty University's baseball program from scratch across thirteen seasons. He is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, not the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died June 18, 2026, at 97.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 192 | 1 | 27 | 94 | 49 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #526 Minnesota Twins
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- #56 Sandy Valdespino
- #73 Jerry Zimmerman
- #97 Jim Merritt
- #120 Harmon Killebrew
- #190 Jimmie Hall
- #207 Frank Quilici
- #216 American League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #220 American League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #224 American League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #240 Earl Battey
- #264 Twins 1966 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #181 card?
It is card #181 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Worthington of the Minnesota Twins.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, 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.