1968 Topps #514 Al McBean
About Al McBean
Card #514 belongs to the sixth series of 1968 and comes from McBean's busiest year on the mound. Back in the rotation full time, with 28 of his 36 appearances starts, he threw a career-high 198 1/3 innings with nine complete games and two shutouts, finishing 9-12 with a 3.58 ERA in the Year of the Pitcher. His signature day came July 28 against St. Louis, a complete-game 7-1 win in which he hit a grand slam off Larry Jaster and, with the game in hand, floated blooper pitches through the ninth. That fall the Pirates left him unprotected in the expansion draft.
Alvin O'Neal McBean, born May 15, 1938, in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, was the first pitcher from the U.S. Virgin Islands to reach the major leagues and for decades the only one. Pirates superscout Howie Haak found him at a 1957 tryout camp on St. Thomas that McBean attended as a photographer for a local paper; talked into working out in borrowed spikes, he signed for a $100 bonus and debuted on July 2, 1961. A right-hander with a hard sinker who threw from whatever arm angle suited him that day, he moved between the rotation and the bullpen for ten seasons: Pittsburgh from 1961 through 1968 and again in 1970, San Diego in 1969, and Los Angeles from 1969 into 1970. His best year was 1964 - 8-3 with a 1.91 ERA and 21 saves, good for The Sporting News National League Fireman of the Year. He finished 67-50 with a 3.13 ERA and 63 saves in 409 games. A famously sharp dresser who played to the crowd, he was a friend and Pirates roommate of Roberto Clemente, who stood as best man at his 1962 wedding. He went home to St. Thomas to work in recreation for the territory and died there on January 31, 2024, at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 322 | 19 | 116 | 132 | 26 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| SGC | 25 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 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. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #308 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #1 National League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #3 National League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #19 Juan Pizarro
- #36 Pirates 1968 Rookie Stars
- #53 Gene Alley
- #70 Bob Veale
- #86 Willie Stargell
- #150 Bob Clemente
- #175 Maury Wills
- #198 Roy Face
- #215 Jim Bunning
- #251 Manny Sanguillen
- #270 Matty Alou
- #288 Dave Wickersham
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #514 card?
It is card #514 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al McBean of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Is 1968 Topps #514 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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.