1969 Topps #304 Padres Rookie Stars - Bill Davis / Clarence Gaston
On this card: Bill Davis, Clarence Gaston
TCDB recognizes this card as Clarence Gaston's rookie card.
About this card
This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
The story on this card
Bill Davis's 1969 Topps card is a third-series San Diego Padres Rookie Stars issue, shared with Clarence Gaston, and TCDB recognizes it as Gaston's rookie card. It marks Davis's move to the expansion Padres, for whom he started at first base in the franchise's first-ever regular season game on April 8, 1969, before a May trade to the St. Louis Cardinals closed out his major league career. A 6-foot-7 first baseman from Minnesota who reached the majors with Cleveland in 1965, Davis hit his only career home run as a pinch hitter in 1966 and started the Padres' first-ever regular season game in 1969.
Gaston's first full major league season came in 1969 with the San Diego Padres, San Diego's inaugural year after taking him from Atlanta in the expansion draft. Sports Illustrated singled him out that spring as an exciting rookie centerfielder with speed and power. He played 129 games, batting .230 with 2 home runs and 28 RBI as a free-swinging rookie. His 1969 Topps card, card 304 from print series 3 of the set, is his recognized rookie card, in the Rookie Stars subset he shares with fellow Padres prospect Bill Davis. Cito Gaston, a Padres and Braves outfielder from 1967-1978, made the 1970 NL All-Star team after hitting .318 with 29 homers; he later managed Toronto to back-to-back World Series titles.
Sources: Wikipedia (Bill Davis) · Wikipedia (Cito Gaston) · SABR BioProject (Bill Davis) · SABR BioProject (Cito Gaston)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 386 | 4 | 54 | 206 | 75 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 2 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #304 card?
It is card #304 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Davis and Clarence Gaston. This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
Is 1969 Topps #304 a rookie card?
Yes - #304 is the rookie card of Clarence Gaston. Bill Davis had already appeared on an earlier Topps card, so it is not his rookie card.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, 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.