1968 Topps #237 Alvin Dark
About this card
This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1968 Topps set, numbered among the regular cards rather than grouped as a subset.
About Alvin Dark
Cleveland hired Dark for 1968 within months of Kansas City firing him, and he inherited a pitching staff worth having. The Indians led the majors in strikeouts, 1,157, and allowed the fewest hits, 1,087, with Luis Tiant going 21-9 behind a 1.60 earned run average and Sam McDowell alongside him. Cleveland finished 86-75 and third in the American League, its highest finish in nine years, and the club would not finish higher than fourth again until 1994. Card #237 is a third-series card in the 1968 Topps set.
Alvin Ralph Dark, born January 7, 1922 in Comanche, Oklahoma and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, lettered in baseball, basketball and football at LSU before Marine Corps service sent him to Southwestern Louisiana Institute and then to China. He signed with the Boston Braves in July 1946 and, batting .322 as a rookie shortstop in 1948, won the last Rookie of the Year award handed out before the writers began naming a winner in each league. Traded to the New York Giants after the 1949 season, he was named team captain by Leo Durocher, hit .300 or better three times, and batted .412 as New York swept the 1954 World Series. Over fourteen seasons with the Braves, Giants, Cardinals, Cubs and Phillies he hit .289 with 2,089 hits, 126 home runs and three All-Star selections. He retired as a player after 1960 and moved to the dugout, managing the Giants, Athletics, Indians and Padres over parts of two decades, winning the 1962 National League pennant and the 1974 World Series. He belongs to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame; though he outhit fellow New York shortstops Pee Wee Reese and Phil Rizzuto, he was never elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died November 13, 2014.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 258 | 7 | 55 | 118 | 50 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 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
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #8 American League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #12 American League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #16 Indians 1968 Rookie Stars
- #35 Steve Hargan
- #54 Stan Williams
- #71 Vern Fuller
- #94 Lee Maye
- #115 Sam McDowell
- #176 Bob Allen
- #197 Larry Brown
- #218 Ken Suarez
- #269 Bob Tiefenauer
- #295 Sonny Siebert
- #318 Chico Salmon
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #237 card?
It is card #237 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Alvin Dark of the Cleveland Indians. This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1968 Topps set, numbered among the regular cards rather than grouped as a subset.
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.