1972 Topps #359 Don Pavletich


About Don Pavletich
March 31, 1972 closed out Pavletich's playing days, when the Brewers, the team in the city where he was born, released him before he got into a game for them. "It was kind of unexpected when the Brewers cut me," he said. "I thought I was going to make the team. It was tough at that time." Topps listed him with Milwaukee on #359, part of the third series.
Donald Stephen Pavletich was born in Milwaukee on July 13, 1938, and grew up in the suburb of West Allis. He was of Croatian descent, all four grandparents having come over from Croatia. He hit .405 across four years at Nathan Hale High School and starred in American Legion and semipro ball before the Reds signed him in August 1956 for a reported $35,000 bonus. The bonus rule kept him on the big-league roster, and he debuted at 18 on April 20, 1957, pinch-hitting at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Weeks later he enlisted in the Army, serving as a medic in Heilbronn, Germany, until February 1959. He rebuilt his career at Topeka and Indianapolis, was voted a Triple-A All-Star in 1961, and finally collected his first big-league hit on April 29, 1962, five years after his debut. He spent most of the 1960s in Cincinnati behind Johnny Edwards and then Johnny Bench, and went to the White Sox after 1968 and to Boston after 1969. He closed out at .254 with 46 home runs and 193 RBIs in 536 games over twelve seasons. After his playing days he sold investment real estate and later worked as a Milwaukee loan officer. He died in 2020 at 81.
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 | 330 | 15 | 125 | 154 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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: #106 Milwaukee Brewers
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- #153 Rick Auerbach
- #161 Brock Davis
- #162 Brewers 1972 Rookie Stars
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- #255 Jim Lonborg
- #281 Bill Parsons
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- #376 Andy Kosco
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #359 card?
It is card #359 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Pavletich of the Milwaukee Brewers.
How many cards are in the 1972 Topps Baseball set?
787 cards, tracked as 794 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 787 with none skipped, in six print series (#1-132, #133-263, #264-394, #395-525, #526-656 and #657-787, the high numbers); 7 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - four Chicago Cubs cards with yellow or green under the "C" and "S" of the team name, the #251 and #478 checklists with smaller or larger print on the front, and the #604 checklist with its copyright line aligned right or left.
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.