1968 Topps #273 Dave Johnson
About Dave Johnson
Johnson played 145 games in 1968, spending 34 of them at shortstop while Baltimore climbed back to second place, and he hit .242 with nine home runs and 56 RBI. It was the year he first made the All-Star team, striking out against Ron Reed in his only plate appearance. Topps gave him #273 in the third series, a straightforward single-player card.
David Allen Johnson was born in Orlando on January 30, 1943, grew up an Army officer's son in San Antonio, and signed with the Baltimore Orioles for a $25,000 bonus in 1962 after playing at Texas A&M. He climbed through Stockton, Elmira and Rochester, took the Orioles' second base job from Jerry Adair in the spring of 1966, and stayed a regular for eight seasons. Johnson anchored second base for the Baltimore clubs that won four American League pennants and the 1966 and 1970 World Series, pairing with Mark Belanger and Brooks Robinson on the era's best infield, and he won Gold Gloves in 1969, 1970 and 1971 while reaching four All-Star Games. Traded to Atlanta after the 1972 season, he hit 43 home runs in 1973, joining Darrell Evans and Hank Aaron as the first trio of teammates to reach 40 in a season. Two years with the Yomiuri Giants followed, then reserve duty with the Phillies and Cubs through 1978. A Trinity University mathematics major, Johnson was among the first managers to feed lineups into a computer; he won the 1986 World Series with the Mets, took Manager of the Year honors in 1997 and 2012, and entered the Mets Hall of Fame in 2010. He died on September 5, 2025.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 393 | 22 | 100 | 168 | 51 | 28 | 10 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 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: #334 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #2 American League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #4 American League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #20 Brooks Robinson
- #42 Larry Haney
- #56 Orioles 1968 Rookie Stars
- #82 Sam Bowens
- #97 Tom Phoebus
- #118 Mark Belanger
- #135 Paul Blair
- #163 Gene Brabender
- #186 Eddie Watt
- #194 Don Buford
- #204 Andy Etchebarren
- #222 Jim Hardin
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #273 card?
It is card #273 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Johnson of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.