1968 Topps #93 Tony Cloninger
About Tony Cloninger
First-series #93 is the last card in this Topps run to show Cloninger in a Braves uniform, and the season behind it is the one that ended his prime at 26. A pulled muscle below his right shoulder shelved him after a 1.89 ERA over his first 19 innings; ocular histoplasmosis, a fungal eye condition that briefly raised fears of blindness, cost him another month when it returned on July 30; a sore elbow finished him for the final 20 games. He lost more than 90 days in all, pitching just 76 2/3 innings in 16 games and going 4-7 with a 5.17 ERA.
Tony Lee Cloninger was a North Carolina fireballer who signed with the Milwaukee Braves in the spring of 1958 for a $100,000 bonus and reached the majors on June 15, 1961, two months shy of his 21st birthday. As Warren Spahn's career wound down, Cloninger took over as staff ace and led the Braves in wins three straight seasons, peaking in 1965 at 24-11 with a 3.29 ERA and 211 strikeouts. He could swing a bat, too: on July 3, 1966 he hit two grand slams and drove in nine runs in a 17-3 rout of the Giants, and he remains the only pitcher in major-league history to hit two slams in a game. A pulled shoulder muscle, an eye ailment and a sore elbow cost him most of 1967, and Atlanta traded him to Cincinnati in June 1968. He started Game Three of the 1970 World Series for the pennant-winning Reds, closed out his playing days with the Cardinals in 1972 at 113-97 with a 4.07 ERA over twelve seasons, then coached, winning four World Series rings in the New York Yankees bullpen. He was never elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame; the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame took him in 2004. Cloninger died on July 24, 2018.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 671 | 39 | 246 | 302 | 44 | 24 | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 26 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 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: #221 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #3 National League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #5 National League 1967 Home Run Leaders
- #7 National League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #30 Joe Torre
- #55 Felipe Alou
- #76 Braves 1968 Rookie Stars
- #110 Hank Aaron
- #134 Pat Jarvis
- #166 Claude Raymond
- #174 Bob Tillman
- #187 Sonny Jackson
- #203 Dick Kelley
- #241 Felix Millan
- #257 Phil Niekro
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #93 card?
It is card #93 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Cloninger of the Atlanta Braves.
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.