1969 Topps #344 Tom Matchick
About Tom Matchick
1969 Topps #344 catches Matchick in his busiest Tigers season, when he played all four infield positions in 94 games and hit .242 with 32 RBIs while leading the American League in pinch-hitting, going 8-for-16 off the bench. It came from the set's fourth print series, issued the year after his walk-off heroics helped push Detroit to the 1968 championship.
John Thomas Matchick, born September 7, 1943 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was a left-handed-hitting infielder who spent six major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Baltimore Orioles from 1967 to 1972, compiling a .215 average with four home runs and 64 RBIs in 292 games. Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1962, he was drafted by Detroit that November and spent five years in the Tigers' farm system, earning a Rawlings Silver Glove and Triple-A all-star honors at Toledo in 1967 before his September call-up. His signature moment came July 19, 1968, when a ninth-inning, two-run home run off Moe Drabowsky beat Baltimore 5-4 in front of more than 53,000 fans at Tiger Stadium, a swing the wire services called the Tigers' biggest blow of that pennant race. He appeared in the 1968 World Series as Detroit beat St. Louis, and in his busiest season the next year he played all four infield positions while leading the American League in pinch-hitting.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 335 | 9 | 85 | 177 | 43 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #344 card?
It is card #344 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tom Matchick of the Detroit Tigers.
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.