1967 Topps #308 Al Downing
About Al Downing
Downing's 1967 card #308, a series-4 issue, covers his 1966 season: a 10-11 record and 3.56 ERA with 152 strikeouts in exactly 200 innings, every one of his 30 appearances a start. He carried that full-season workload for a Yankees team that went 70-89 and finished tenth and last in the American League, 26.5 games behind Baltimore and in the cellar for the first time since 1912.
Alphonso Erwin Downing, a left-handed pitcher born June 28, 1941, in Trenton, New Jersey, signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1961 and reached the majors that July at age 20, becoming the first Black pitcher in franchise history when he took the mound on July 19. He spent parts of nine seasons in pinstripes, breaking out in 1963 at 13-5 with a 2.56 ERA and leading the American League with 217 strikeouts in 1964. On August 11, 1967, the year of his only All-Star selection, he struck out the side on nine pitches against Cleveland, the majors' first immaculate inning since 1964. Traded to Oakland before 1970 and to Milwaukee that June, he found a second act with the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 20 games with a league-leading five shutouts in 1971 and taking National League Comeback Player of the Year. He is remembered above all for one pitch: on April 8, 1974, he surrendered Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run. He finished 123-107 with a 3.22 ERA and 1,639 strikeouts over 17 seasons, later broadcasting for the Dodgers.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 330 | 5 | 59 | 165 | 52 | 23 | 12 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 29 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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. PSA registers a row for every one of the 624 states; SGC lists no separate row for the #149 white-streak state.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #308 card?
It is card #308 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Downing of the New York Yankees.
How many cards are in the 1967 Topps Baseball set?
609 cards, tracked as 624 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 609 without a gap - no number was skipped and none was used twice - and 15 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-12.