1973 Topps #311 Joe Decker
About Joe Decker
On June 26, 1973 Decker shut out the White Sox 4-0 and struck out 15, tying the Minnesota record Camilo Pascual set in 1961. He went 10-10 with a 4.17 ERA and three shutouts. Card #311, from the third series, shows him with the Twins, the club he joined the previous winter in a trade that also brought Bill Hands from Chicago.
Joe Decker was a right-handed pitcher who worked for the Chicago Cubs from 1969 to 1972, the Minnesota Twins from 1973 to 1976 and the Seattle Mariners in 1979. A ninth-round pick out of Petaluma High School in California in 1965, he signed for a $50,000 bonus and reached the Cubs as a September call-up in 1969. Blocked from the Chicago rotation, he went to Minnesota in a trade for Dave LaRoche before 1973 and teamed with Bert Blyleven at the top of the Twins staff. His best year was 1974, when he went 16-14 with a 3.29 ERA and 248 2/3 innings. Control problems followed, and he finished 36-44 with a 4.17 ERA over nine seasons. He pitched in the minors into 1983, later played in the Senior Professional Baseball Association and coached in the Tigers' system. He died in Fraser, Michigan, in 2003.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 215 | 4 | 87 | 107 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 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
Team card: #654 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #16 Steve Braun
- #49 Twins Field Leaders
- #61 1972 Batting Leaders
- #80 Tony Oliva
- #98 Dick Woodson
- #122 Jim Strickland
- #148 Dave Goltz
- #170 Harmon Killebrew
- #199 Bert Blyleven
- #228 Bobby Darwin
- #259 Jim Holt
- #284 Glenn Borgmann
- #330 Rod Carew
- #353 Steve Brye
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #311 card?
It is card #311 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Decker of the Minnesota Twins.
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.