1966 Topps #252 Denver Lemaster
About Denver Lemaster
Card #252 is a third-series issue and the first to put Lemaster in an Atlanta Braves listing after the franchise moved south. The season it reports, though, was a lost one in Milwaukee. A stiff shoulder he pitched through in the spring became tendinitis; 32 straight days of cortisone shots and deep-heat treatment did not fix it, and a 4-7 start at 6.10 sent him to the disabled list. He came back in July and pitched to a 2.80 ERA the rest of the way, but the full line was 7-13 with a 4.43 ERA in 32 games. Detroit nearly got him in a deal built around Norm Cash; a strong finish, capped by a shutout of the Dodgers in his last outing, made the Braves keep him.
Denver Clayton "Denny" Lemaster was a left-handed pitcher who spent eleven seasons in the majors (1962-1972) with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, the Houston Astros and the Montreal Expos. Born in Corona, California and raised in Oxnard, he threw seven no-hitters at Oxnard High School and signed with the Braves in 1958 as the club's chosen heir to Warren Spahn. He reached Milwaukee on July 15, 1962, was a 1967 National League All-Star, and moved to Houston that October. He finished 90-105 with a 3.58 ERA, 66 complete games, 14 shutouts and 1,305 strikeouts in 357 games; Joe Torre, who caught him with both Braves clubs, remembered a fastball near 93 miles an hour, a super curve and no fear of working inside. Lemaster later spent more than 30 years in homebuilding, guided hunting and fishing trips, and became an accomplished carver and painter of wooden wildlife. He belongs to the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame in his native California. He died July 24, 2024, in Loganville, Georgia, at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 272 | 8 | 55 | 148 | 43 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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. 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: #326 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #10 Tony Cloninger
- #28 Phil Niekro
- #49 Woody Woodward
- #84 Braves 1966 Rookie Stars
- #96 Felipe Alou
- #130 Joe Torre
- #153 Rico Carty
- #168 Dan Osinski
- #184 Denis Menke
- #200 Ed Mathews
- #215 National League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #223 National League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #237 Billy O'Dell
- #268 John Blanchard
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #252 card?
It is card #252 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Denver Lemaster of the Atlanta Braves.
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.