1968 Topps #160 Earl Wilson
About Earl Wilson
The two 1968 Topps cards catch Wilson at the top of his career. Card #10 is a first-series League Leaders card for American League pitching in 1967, the season his 22 wins tied Jim Lonborg's total for the league lead, with Dean Chance's 20 third. Collectors chase it in two states, because some backs spell Lonborg correctly and others print it as Lonberg. Card #160, a second-series issue, is his own, and the line on it is the best he ever posted: 22-11 with a 3.27 ERA, 184 strikeouts and 12 complete games over 264 innings in 39 appearances, with Detroit finishing a single game behind Boston.
Earl Wilson was a right-handed pitcher out of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, born October 2, 1934. The Boston Red Sox signed him in 1953, the season his arm moved him out from behind the plate and onto the mound, and on July 28, 1959 he became the first Black pitcher to appear for the franchise. On June 26, 1962 he no-hit the Los Angeles Angels 2-0 at Fenway Park and homered in the same game, the first African American to throw a no-hitter in the American League. Boston traded him to Detroit in June 1966; he answered with a 13-6 finish and then, in 1967, a career-best 22 wins that tied Jim Lonborg for the American League lead. He started Game 3 of the 1968 World Series for the champion Tigers and closed out 1970 with the San Diego Padres, finishing 121-109 with a 3.69 ERA and 1,452 strikeouts. He also hit 35 home runs, a total only a handful of pitchers have ever bettered. He settled in Detroit as a businessman and later led the Baseball Assistance Team, which aids former players in need, before a heart attack took him in April 2005 at 70.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Cardboard Connection
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 367 | 14 | 88 | 140 | 66 | 22 | 24 | 13 | 0 |
| SGC | 25 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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 Earl Wilson in this set: #10 League Leaders
Team card: #528 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #2 American League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #10 American League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #22 Pat Dobson
- #40 Denny McLain
- #58 Ed Mathews
- #78 Jim Northrup
- #113 Tigers 1968 Rookie Stars
- #129 Mickey Stanley
- #178 Don Wert
- #201 Mike Marshall
- #226 Jimmie Price
- #240 Al Kaline
- #256 Norm Cash
- #285 Dick McAuliffe
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #160 card?
It is card #160 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Earl Wilson of the Detroit Tigers.
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.