1975 Topps #371 Gates Brown
About Gates Brown
William James "Gates" Brown got his nickname from his mother as a toddler, for reasons even he never knew. Signed by the Detroit Tigers out of the Ohio State Reformatory, where a guard-coach spotted his bat speed and helped arrange his early parole, Brown spent his entire career with Detroit from 1963 to 1975. He debuted in dramatic fashion on June 19, 1963, launching a pinch-hit home run in his first career at-bat at Fenway Park. Squeezed out of a starting job in left field once Willie Horton emerged, Brown turned pinch-hitting into his specialty, retiring as the American League's all-time pinch-hit leader with 107 hits and 16 home runs off the bench, and helping Detroit win the 1968 World Series. He stayed with the organization as Tigers hitting coach from 1978 to 1984, mentoring Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker to a second championship ring. His final Topps card, #371 in the 1975 set, closed out a career built on delivering, cold, off the bench.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 254 | 1 | 33 | 145 | 53 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-08-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. The graders do not split the 1975 Topps Mini or O-Pee-Chee issues into this set.
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Related cards
Team card: #18 Detroit Tigers
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- #4 Al Kaline
- #42 Joe Coleman
- #66 Willie Horton
- #89 Jim Ray
- #116 Lerrin LaGrow
- #141 Mickey Stanley
- #166 Woodie Fryman
- #206 1968 MVPs
- #221 Aurelio Rodriguez
- #245 Mickey Lolich
- #271 Jerry Moses
- #293 Dick Sharon
- #323 Fred Holdsworth
- #344 Ben Oglivie
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1975 Topps #371 card?
It is card #371 of the 660-card 1975 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gates Brown.
How many cards are in the 1975 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1-660, with no variations and no short prints - PSA reports the cards were printed in equal quantities. The 1975 Topps Mini and the 1975 O-Pee-Chee issues are separate products with their own checklists.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Cardboard Connection, the PSA price guide, 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 2026-10-05.