1974 Topps #396 Tommy Davis
About Tommy Davis
Tommy Davis batted .306 in 1973 as the Baltimore Orioles' designated hitter, third in the American League batting race, with 7 home runs and 89 RBI in 137 games, and he placed tenth in the MVP vote. In the ALCS he had 6 hits in 21 at-bats as Oakland beat Baltimore, 3-2. His 1974 Topps card, #396, shows him with the Orioles.
Herman Thomas Davis Jr. was born March 21, 1939, in Brooklyn and signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for a $4,000 bonus after a personal phone call from Jackie Robinson steered him away from the Yankees. He won minor-league batting titles at Kokomo in 1957 and Spokane in 1959, then struck out as a pinch hitter in his only September 1959 at-bat. He became the first Los Angeles Dodger to win a batting championship, taking the National League crown in 1962 at .346 with 230 hits and 153 RBI, a franchise record that broke Roy Campanella's 142. He repeated in 1963 at .326, the only back-to-back batting titles in the club's Los Angeles history. A broken and dislocated ankle on May 1, 1965, ended that season, and he kept hitting for ten organizations across eighteen seasons, among them the one-year Seattle Pilots. In Baltimore he served as designated hitter from 1973 to 1975 and won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in 1974, when he collected 181 hits. He finished with 2,121 hits and a .294 average in 1,999 games, then worked as a Dodgers minor-league instructor and as the Seattle Mariners' hitting coach in 1981. He died April 3, 2022, in Phoenix at 83.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 190 | 2 | 71 | 90 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1974 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #16 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #40 Jim Palmer
- #68 Grant Jackson
- #92 Paul Blair
- #109 Bob Grich
- #137 Al Bumbry
- #160 Brooks Robinson
- #187 Don Baylor
- #206 1973 Earned Run Average Leaders
- #235 Dave McNally
- #259 Bob Reynolds
- #282 Doyle Alexander
- #306 Orioles Field Leaders
- #329 Mark Belanger
- #334 All-Star Third Basemen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1974 Topps #396 card?
It is card #396 of the 660-card 1974 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tommy Davis of the Baltimore Orioles.
How many cards are in the 1974 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 678 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, issued all at once as a single series and printed in equal quantities; 17 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fourteen San Diego / "Washington Nat'l Lea." pairs (thirteen Padres player cards and the #226 team card), the three-state #599 Rookie Pitchers, the #608 Apodaco misspelling and the #654 Jesus Alou front without a position.
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.