1967 Topps #301 Jesse Gonder
About Jesse Gonder
1967 Topps #301 comes from the set's fourth series - an ordinary mid-number. It pictures Jesse Gonder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he opened the year as the third catcher and got into only 22 games. He delivered the game-winning hit in a 5-4 win over the Phillies on April 27. On June 17 at Philadelphia he caught a Pirates lineup whose eight position players were all Black or Latino, one white starting pitcher short of the all-minority nine Pittsburgh would field in 1971; he reached twice and scored twice in a 6-5 win. That was his last game in the majors, and the demotion that followed left him ten days short of the five years of service needed for a pension.
Jesse Lemar Gonder (Jan 20, 1936 - Nov 14, 2004) was born in Monticello, Arkansas, and raised in West Oakland, California, where he caught for coach George Powles at McClymonds High School, the program that also produced Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Curt Flood. A left-handed hitter, he signed with Cincinnati in 1955 and worked his way through the minors - Mexico, the Havana Sugar Kings, Triple-A Richmond - before debuting with the New York Yankees in September 1960; his first big-league hit was a pinch home run. Over eight seasons with the Yankees, Reds, Mets, Braves and Pirates he batted .251 with 220 hits, 26 home runs and 94 RBIs in 876 at-bats. The bat was never the question: in 1962 he won the Pacific Coast League batting title and RBI crown and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. His catching drew constant criticism, which he disputed all his life. After he complained about the segregated spring-training lodging he and his Black teammates faced in Florida, Cincinnati became the first club to integrate player housing there - and Gonder was tagged a troublemaker, a label he believed cut his career short. He drove a Bay Area transit bus for more than 20 years and died in Oakland in 2004.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · SABR · Baseball Almanac · MLB.com
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 274 | 10 | 51 | 142 | 43 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 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. 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: #492 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #10 Matty Alou
- #49 Roy Face
- #66 Manny Mota
- #84 Tommie Sisk
- #123 Pirates 1967 Rookie Stars
- #140 Willie Stargell
- #162 Billy O'Dell
- #183 Jim Pagliaroni
- #203 Al McBean
- #221 Woody Fryman
- #238 National League 1966 Strikeout Leaders
- #240 National League 1966 Batting Leaders
- #242 National League 1966 RBI Leaders
- #266 Pitt Power
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #301 card?
It is card #301 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jesse Gonder of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.