1964 Topps #45 Milt Pappas
About Milt Pappas
Card 45 is a series-1 Baltimore card from the heaviest workload Pappas ever carried: 251 innings, 16-7, a 2.97 ERA, 13 complete games and a career-best seven shutouts, with not one error charged to him on the mound. It was also his first year under new manager Hank Bauer, who later griped that Pappas began eyeing the bullpen after five innings, an odd knock given that he led the Orioles in complete games in both of his seasons under Bauer.
Milton Steven Pappas, born May 11, 1939, in Detroit to Greek immigrant parents, pitched 17 seasons in the majors from 1957 through 1973 as a control artist for the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. Signed out of Detroit's Cooley High School for a $4,000 bonus, he got only a two-week taste of the minors before debuting at 18 in August 1957. He anchored Baltimore's young Kiddie Korps staff with Chuck Estrada, Steve Barber, Jack Fisher and Jerry Walker, won in double figures eleven straight seasons, and was an All-Star in 1962, when he pitched in both of that summer's two All-Star Games, and again in 1965, when he started the game. In December 1965 Baltimore sent him, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson to Cincinnati for Frank Robinson, remembered as one of the most lopsided trades ever made. He later pitched for the Braves and Cubs, no-hitting San Diego on September 2, 1972, and retired with 209 wins, 164 losses and a 3.40 ERA in 3,186 innings without ever winning 20 in a season. He is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame; Baltimore elected him to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1985. He died April 19, 2016, at 76.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 215 | 0 | 16 | 111 | 42 | 26 | 9 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. 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: #473 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #17 Willie Kirkland
- #22 Jerry Adair
- #63 Johnny Orsino
- #89 Boog Powell
- #126 Russ Snyder
- #145 Norm Siebern
- #161 Dave McNally
- #178 Hank Bauer
- #201 Orioles 1964 Rookie Stars
- #221 Bob Saverine
- #230 Brooks Robinson
- #239 Herm Starrette
- #263 Chuck Estrada
- #285 Robin Roberts
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #45 card?
It is card #45 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Milt Pappas of the Baltimore Orioles.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-11.