1966 Topps #493 Johnny Klippstein
About Johnny Klippstein
Card #493, a series-6 card, reports Klippstein's 1965 with the pennant-winning Twins. New pitching coach Johnny Sain taught him a quick-pitch curve, and alongside closer Al Worthington he formed the American League's most effective relief pair: 9-3, a 2.24 ERA and five saves in 56 games, capped by 23 straight appearances from August 1 without allowing a run. He threw a scoreless inning in Game Three of the World Series and 1 2/3 more in Game Seven.
John Calvin Klippstein was a right-handed pitcher who spent 18 seasons in the majors, from his 1950 debut with the Chicago Cubs to a last outing for the Detroit Tigers on May 27, 1967. Born October 17, 1927 in Washington, D.C., he was spotted at 15 at a Cardinals tryout camp in Appleton, Wisconsin, and signed the following spring. He pitched for the Cubs (1950-1954), Cincinnati (1955-1958, 1962), the Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-1959), Cleveland (1960), Washington (1961), Philadelphia (1963-1964), Minnesota (1964-1966) and Detroit (1967), finishing 101-118 with a 4.24 ERA, 66 saves and 1,158 strikeouts in 1,967 2/3 innings, starting 161 of his 711 games and working out of the bullpen in his later years. Persistent wildness - 97 career wild pitches, with league-leading totals in 1952 and 1961 - earned him the nickname "The Wild Man of Borneo." On May 26, 1956 he held Milwaukee hitless for seven innings, walking seven; Hersh Freeman and Joe Black finished the ninth with the no-hitter still intact before the Braves broke through in the tenth and won it in the eleventh, and a 1991 rules change struck the game from the official no-hitter list. He reached the World Series with the 1959 Dodgers and again with the 1965 Twins. He died October 10, 2003, in Elgin, Illinois.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 271 | 1 | 43 | 146 | 55 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 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. 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
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #3 Sam Mele
- #22 Joe Nossek
- #40 Jim Grant
- #56 Sandy Valdespino
- #73 Jerry Zimmerman
- #97 Jim Merritt
- #120 Harmon Killebrew
- #181 Al Worthington
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #493 card?
It is card #493 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Klippstein of the Minnesota Twins.
Why is #493 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series, #447-522 - noticeably tougher than the first five. Nothing in #447-522 is short-printed.
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.