1967 Topps #422 Hoyt Wilhelm
About Hoyt Wilhelm
His only 1967 card is #422, a fifth-series number. The 1966 line on it is small and excellent: 46 games, 5-2, a 1.66 ERA over 81 innings. It nearly did not happen. That spring a pitching machine broke the middle finger of his pitching hand during bunting practice, the only serious injury of a 21-year career, and when he came back Chicago had the best pitching staff in the league and spread its late-inning work around an excellent bullpen. Wilhelm turned 44 that July and his ERA kept falling anyway.
Hoyt Wilhelm rode a knuckleball he taught himself as a North Carolina teenager to one of baseball's strangest careers. Born in Huntersville on July 26, 1922 -- a year earlier than the date his cards carried -- he was one of eleven children of tenant farmers. He served in the Army, was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Purple Heart, then pitched the rest of his life with a fragment lodged in his back; his rise to staff sergeant left him the nickname "Old Sarge." He did not reach the majors until age 29, debuting for the New York Giants in April 1952, and homered in his first at-bat, the only home run he ever hit. Working entirely in relief, he won the National League ERA title as a rookie at 2.43, going 15-3, then took a second crown as a Baltimore starter in 1959 at 2.19 and no-hit the Yankees 1-0 on September 20, 1958. He pitched for nine franchises, tying Satchel Paige and Goose Gossage for the most by a Hall of Fame pitcher, and was the first to reach 200 saves and 1,000 games. Twenty-one seasons left him 143-122 with a 2.52 ERA, 228 saves and a record 124 relief wins; in 1985 he became the first reliever elected to Cooperstown.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 711 | 4 | 79 | 278 | 173 | 82 | 51 | 44 | 0 |
| SGC | 86 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 26 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 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
Team card: #573 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #9 Ron Hansen
- #29 Tom McCraw
- #52 Dennis Higgins
- #67 Ken Berry
- #81 Eddie Stanky
- #107 Joel Horlen
- #143 Sox Sockers
- #159 Bruce Howard
- #178 John Buzhardt
- #208 Jack Lamabe
- #232 Don Buford
- #233 American League 1966 ERA Leaders
- #259 Don Dennis
- #286 Wayne Causey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #422 card?
It is card #422 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hoyt Wilhelm of the Chicago White Sox.
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.