1971 Topps #180 Al Kaline
About Al Kaline
On May 30, 1970, at Milwaukee, Kaline collided with center fielder Jim Northrup chasing a fly ball and fell to the warning track, his jaw locked and his tongue blocking his airway. He still played 131 games and hit .278 with 16 home runs, the season behind his second-series #180. He then turned down a raise from $95,000 to $100,000. In 1971 he hit .294, made the All-Star team and became the first Tiger to sign for $100,000.
Al Kaline spent his entire 22-season career with the Detroit Tigers, signing out of Baltimore's Southern High School in 1953 and stepping straight into the majors at 18 without a day in the minor leagues. In 1955, at 20, he hit .340 with 200 hits and 27 home runs to become the youngest batting champion in big-league history. The long tie to one franchise made him Mr. Tiger. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games and won ten Gold Gloves (1957-1959 and 1961-1967) in right field, where he was known for his strong throwing arm. He did all of it on a left foot deformed by childhood osteomyelitis that cost him two inches of bone. His one World Series, in 1968, brought a .379 average, two home runs and eight runs batted in as Detroit beat St. Louis in seven games. He finished with 3,007 hits, 399 home runs and a .297 average, the twelfth man to reach 3,000 hits. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 on the first ballot with 88.3 percent of the vote. He called Tigers games on television from 1975 to 2002 and worked in the front office until his death in 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,923 | 1 | 13 | 244 | 572 | 489 | 276 | 328 | 0 |
| SGC | 516 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 99 | 114 | 128 | 111 | 31 |
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: #336 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #3 Dick McAuliffe
- #39 Tigers 1971 Rookie Stars
- #71 1970 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #86 Mike Kilkenny
- #101 Les Cain
- #120 Willie Horton
- #133 Mickey Lolich
- #154 Cesar Gutierrez
- #208 Billy Martin
- #229 Jim Hannan
- #265 Jim Northrup
- #296 Tom Timmermann
- #316 Fred Scherman
- #367 Dalton Jones
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #180 card?
It is card #180 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers.
How many cards are in the 1971 Topps Baseball set?
752 cards, tracked as 761 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 752 with none skipped, issued in six print series (132/131/130/130/120/109 cards), the sixth (#644-752) the high numbers; seven cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - the #42, #265 and #306 photo pairs and the #123, #206, #369 and #619 checklists, #369 and #619 in three printings each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA (its price guide, master set registry and set article), 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.