1966 Topps #270 Claude Osteen
About Claude Osteen
Osteen opened 1966 with three straight complete-game wins and had 11 by the All-Star break, then wore down along with the rest of the staff, finishing 17-14 with a 2.85 ERA in 240 1/3 innings for a second straight pennant winner. Baltimore swept the World Series, and his Game Three was the cruelest of the four losses: seven innings, three hits, one mistake that Paul Blair hit out, and a 1-0 defeat opposite Wally Bunker. Card #270 is a third-series Dodgers card, from the last season Los Angeles reached the Series with Koufax.
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 · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 290 | 3 | 55 | 143 | 48 | 23 | 10 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #238 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #13 Lou Johnson
- #41 Don Le John
- #57 Jim Lefebvre
- #75 Tommy Davis
- #100 Sandy Koufax
- #116 Walt Alston
- #134 Wes Parker
- #158 Jim Brewer
- #171 Nick Willhite
- #189 John Roseboro
- #208 Bob Miller
- #221 National League 1965 ERA Leaders
- #223 National League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #225 National League 1965 Strikeout Leaders
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #270 card?
It is card #270 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Claude Osteen of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, 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 2026-10-11.