1963 Topps #374 Claude Osteen
About Claude Osteen
The season turned on one June night, when Osteen shut out the reigning World Series champion Yankees on six hits and walked away understanding for the first time that he could put every pitch where catcher Hobie Landrith wanted it. From there he lived on movement and location rather than velocity, working a sinking fastball, curve, slider and change. He made 29 starts among 40 appearances, logged 212 1/3 innings and posted a 3.35 ERA; the 9-14 record belonged to a Washington club that lost 106 games, not to him. Card #374 is a fifth-series number.
Claude Wilson Osteen was born August 9, 1939, in Caney Spring, Tennessee, the son of a country-store owner who pitched for an amateur team. He starred at Reading High School outside Cincinnati, going 23-1 in his prep career with a 16-0 senior season for the 1957 state champions, and signed with the Cincinnati Redlegs straight out of school, reaching the majors at seventeen without a day in the minors first. The seasoning came afterward, at Wenatchee, Seattle and Indianapolis, because wildness kept him from a regular starting job in Cincinnati. In September 1961 the Reds traded him to the Washington Senators for pitcher Dave Sisler, and Washington gave him the rotation spot he wanted. He grew into a workhorse there, and in December 1964 the Senators cashed him in, sending him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deal that brought Frank Howard, Ken McMullen and Pete Richert to Washington. Over nine Dodgers seasons alongside Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale he became a three-time All-Star, a 20-game winner twice, and the man who turned the 1965 World Series. He finished with Houston, St. Louis and the Chicago White Sox at 196-195 with a 3.30 ERA over 18 seasons, then coached big-league pitchers for decades. He is a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 301 | 1 | 26 | 173 | 73 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 27 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here.
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Related cards
Team card: #131 Washington Senators
More Washington Senators cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #47 Don Lock
- #69 Bud Zipfel
- #94 Bob Schmidt
- #121 Jim Hannan
- #149 Marv Breeding
- #158 1963 Rookie Stars
- #171 Steve Hamilton
- #176 Jim King
- #219 Chuck Cottier
- #243 Don Leppert
- #263 Dave Stenhouse
- #276 Barry Shetrone
- #291 Don Rudolph
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #374 card?
It is card #374 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Claude Osteen of the Washington Senators.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-03.