1973 Topps #508 Gates Brown
About Gates Brown
Brown hit .230 with 10 home runs and 31 RBI for Detroit in 1972. He went hitless in two at-bats as the Tigers lost the ALCS to Oakland. His #508 is a fourth-series card in the 1973 Topps set and lists him with the Tigers.
Gates Brown, born William James Brown, spent his entire thirteen-season career (1963-1975) with the Detroit Tigers. He was convicted of burglary at eighteen and served time at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. A prison coach there spotted his hitting and helped connect him to Tigers scouts Frank Skaff and Pat Mullin, who signed him for a $7,000 bonus. He debuted on June 19, 1963, hitting a pinch-hit home run at Fenway Park in his first major-league at-bat, the third player in American League history to do so. Playing left field for Detroit, Brown became a pinch-hitting specialist, retiring with American League career records of 107 pinch hits, 414 pinch-hit at-bats and 16 pinch-hit home runs. His 1968 season, a .370 average with six home runs, helped the Tigers win the World Series. He later served as Detroit's hitting coach from 1978 through 1984. His mother gave him the nickname Gates as a toddler, and he thought it might have something to do with the way he walked.
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 | 163 | 1 | 45 | 82 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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: #191 Detroit Tigers
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- #51 Chuck Seelbach
- #88 Mickey Stanley
- #120 Joe Coleman
- #146 Woodie Fryman
- #168 Jim Northrup
- #218 Aurelio Rodriguez
- #256 Chris Zachary
- #280 Al Kaline
- #304 Duke Sims
- #323 Tigers Field Leaders
- #349 Dick McAuliffe
- #369 Lerrin LaGrow
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #508 card?
It is card #508 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gates Brown of the Detroit Tigers.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
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.