1967 Topps #305 Earl Wilson
About Earl Wilson
Wilson turns up three times in 1967 Topps, all of it earned in a season split between two clubs. Cards #235 and #237 are third-series League Leaders, the first listing him among the American League's 1966 leaders in wins with Jim Kaat and Denny McLain, the second among its strikeout leaders behind Sam McDowell's 225 and alongside Kaat. Wilson finished that year 18-11 with 200 strikeouts, a career high. Card #305, a fourth-series issue, is the first Topps card to show him as a Tiger. Boston traded him and outfielder Joe Christopher to Detroit in mid-June 1966 for Don Demeter and a player later named as reliever Julio Navarro, and Wilson went 13-6 the rest of the way with a 2.59 ERA, eight complete games and two shutouts.
Earl Wilson was a right-handed pitcher out of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, born October 2, 1934. The Boston Red Sox signed him in 1953, the season his arm moved him out from behind the plate and onto the mound, and on July 28, 1959 he became the first Black pitcher to appear for the franchise. On June 26, 1962 he no-hit the Los Angeles Angels 2-0 at Fenway Park and homered in the same game, the first African American to throw a no-hitter in the American League. Boston traded him to Detroit in June 1966; he answered with a 13-6 finish and then, in 1967, a career-best 22 wins that tied Jim Lonborg for the American League lead. He started Game 3 of the 1968 World Series for the champion Tigers and closed out 1970 with the San Diego Padres, finishing 121-109 with a 3.69 ERA and 1,452 strikeouts. He also hit 35 home runs, a total only a handful of pitchers have ever bettered. He settled in Detroit as a businessman and later led the Baseball Assistance Team, which aids former players in need, before a heart attack took him in April 2005 at 70.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Cardboard Connection
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 255 | 6 | 54 | 131 | 44 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 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. 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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Related cards
More Earl Wilson in this set: #235 League Leaders, #237 League Leaders
Team card: #378 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #13 Joe Sparma
- #30 Al Kaline
- #48 Bill Freehan
- #72 Tigers 1967 Rookie Stars
- #88 Mickey Lolich
- #112 Dave Wickersham
- #134 Gates Brown
- #170 Dick McAuliffe
- #192 Fred Gladding
- #216 Bengal Belters
- #235 American League 1966 Pitching Leaders
- #237 American League 1966 Strikeout Leaders
- #239 American League 1966 Batting Leaders
- #247 Jerry Lumpe
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #305 card?
It is card #305 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Earl Wilson of the Detroit Tigers.
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.