1972 Topps #640 Joe Coleman
About Joe Coleman
Coleman went 19-14 with a 2.80 ERA for the 1972 Tigers, who won the American League East. He threw 280 innings and struck out 222. With Detroit down 2-0 to Oakland in the ALCS, he struck out 14 in a complete-game shutout in Game 3, setting an ALCS record. He was chosen for the All-Star Game, as his father had been in 1948, but an injury kept him out. Topps #96 is a League Leaders card shared with Mickey Lolich and Vida Blue, and #640 is his regular Tigers card.
Joe Coleman was a right-handed pitcher who became the first-ever amateur draft pick to reach the majors, debuting with the Washington Senators in September 1965 less than four months after high school. He was in the Senators' rotation from 1967 to 1970 before a trade sent him to Detroit. There he won 20 games in 1971 and a career-high 23 in 1973. Later stops included the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates before his major league career ended in 1979 with a 142-135 record and 1,728 strikeouts over fifteen seasons. He later coached in the Angels and Cardinals organizations, serving as St. Louis's pitching coach from 1991 through 1994. His father and son were also major league pitchers, making the Colemans the first three-generation pitching family in major league history.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 288 | 7 | 75 | 162 | 32 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 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
More Joe Coleman in this set: #96 League Leaders
Team card: #487 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #6 Fred Scherman
- #33 Billy Martin
- #34 Billy Martin In Action
- #83 Dalton Jones
- #90 1971 A.L. Home Run Leaders
- #94 1971 A.L. Pitching Leaders
- #96 1971 A.L. Strikeout Leaders
- #120 Bill Freehan
- #150 Norm Cash
- #175 Tom Haller
- #176 Tom Haller In Action
- #187 Gates Brown
- #216 Joe Niekro
- #239 Tom Timmermann
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #640 card?
It is card #640 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Coleman of the Detroit Tigers.
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.