1970 Topps #242 Walter Alston
About this card
This is one of the 24 manager cards, one for each club and every one a solo card, separate from the 24 team cards. #211 Ted Williams manages the Washington Senators and #556 Dave Bristol the Seattle Pilots; seven of the 24 managers are Hall of Famers.
About Walter Alston
Alston's Dodgers improved to 85-77 in 1969, nine more wins than in the previous season. They finished fourth in the new National League West, eight games behind Atlanta. His 1970 manager card is #242, a second-series entry identifying him with the Dodgers.
Walter Alston's major-league playing career lasted one game. Sent to first base for the ejected Johnny Mize by the 1936 St. Louis Cardinals, he struck out against Lon Warneke in his only at-bat. He spent 19 years in the minors as a player, player-manager and manager. Alston had lettered in baseball and basketball at Miami University and worked as a schoolteacher in Ohio. Branch Rickey brought him into the Dodgers' organization, where he managed Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe at Nashua in 1946. Six seasons at Brooklyn's Triple-A clubs in St. Paul and Montreal followed. When Charlie Dressen sought a multiyear contract, Walter O'Malley chose Alston to manage the Dodgers in 1954. Alston signed 23 consecutive one-year contracts and finished with 2,040 regular-season wins, seven National League pennants and four World Series championships. His nickname, Smokey, came from his fastball as a schoolboy pitcher; sportswriters also called him the Quiet Man. He handed the club to Tommy Lasorda for the final four games of 1976. Elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1983, Alston missed the induction ceremony after a heart attack. He died in Oxford, Ohio, in 1984.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 295 | 3 | 58 | 148 | 42 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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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Related cards
Team card: #411 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #5 Wes Parker
- #34 Willie Crawford
- #54 Jeff Torborg
- #71 1969 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #97 Joe Moeller
- #131 Dodgers 1970 Rookie Stars
- #157 Manny Mota
- #174 Ted Sizemore
- #204 Len Gabrielson
- #260 Claude Osteen
- #286 Dodgers 1970 Rookie Stars
- #304 Bill Russell
- #341 Bill Sudakis
- #369 Alan Foster
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #242 card?
It is card #242 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Walter Alston of the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is one of the 24 manager cards, one for each club and every one a solo card, separate from the 24 team cards. #211 Ted Williams manages the Washington Senators and #556 Dave Bristol the Seattle Pilots; seven of the 24 managers are Hall of Famers.
How many cards are in the 1970 Topps Baseball set?
720 cards, tracked as 726 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 720 with none skipped, issued in seven series - #1-132, #133-263, #264-372, #373-459, #460-546, #547-633 and the high numbers, #634-720; 6 cards, all of them checklists, carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-25.