1968 Topps #86 Willie Stargell
About Willie Stargell
Card #86 is a first-series card. It reports a hard year. Stargell showed up to spring training in 1967 at 235 pounds; general manager Joe L. Brown fined him and put him on a crash diet down to a mandated 215. Stargell thought the target absurd and said the weight loss left him weak once the season started, and he was hitting .193 at the end of May. He salvaged .271 with 20 home runs and 73 RBI in 134 games, more than 40 points of average and 13 homers off his 1966 line.
Wilver Dornel "Willie" Stargell was a left fielder and first baseman who spent his entire 21-season career (1962-1982) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he ranked among the most feared power hitters of his era. Pirates scout Bob Zuk signed him out of Alameda, California, for $1,500 in August 1958, and after four minor league seasons marked by the indignities of segregated travel he reached Pittsburgh in September 1962. He made the first of seven All-Star teams in 1964 and hit more home runs in the 1970s, 296, than any other player. Standing 6-foot-3 and windmilling his bat at the pitcher as he waited for the windup, he drove seven of the 18 balls ever hit over the right-field stands at Forbes Field. Stargell helped Pittsburgh win the World Series in 1971 and again in 1979, both times over Baltimore, and at 39 he took the 1979 National League Most Valuable Player Award, shared with Keith Hernandez, along with the NLCS and World Series MVP awards, the only player to win all three in one season. He finished at .282 with 2,232 hits, 475 home runs and 1,540 RBI. The Pirates retired his number 8 in 1982, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame elected him in 1988, his first year of eligibility.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,864 | 42 | 193 | 486 | 302 | 268 | 199 | 372 | 2 |
| SGC | 372 | 0 | 9 | 46 | 78 | 72 | 67 | 98 | 2 |
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
- #150 Bob Clemente
- #175 Maury Wills
- #198 Roy Face
- #215 Jim Bunning
- #251 Manny Sanguillen
- #270 Matty Alou
- #288 Dave Wickersham
- #325 Manny Mota
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #86 card?
It is card #86 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.