1968 Topps #440 Claude Osteen
About Claude Osteen
The Year of the Pitcher was a year without runs for Osteen. Los Angeles batted .230 and was shut out in each of his first two starts; he finished 12-18 despite a 3.08 ERA, the 18 losses tying Ray Sadecki for the major league lead. His own card here is #440, a fifth-series number. He also turns up at #9, a first-series League Leaders card looking back at 1967, which he shares with Mike McCormick, Ferguson Jenkins and Jim Bunning; the Cooperstown names on that one are Jenkins and Bunning, not Osteen.
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 | 308 | 15 | 77 | 139 | 41 | 23 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 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. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
More Claude Osteen in this set: #9 League Leaders
Team card: #168 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #9 National League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Ron Hunt
- #34 Al Ferrara
- #65 John Roseboro
- #88 Phil Regan
- #103 Don Sutton
- #124 Nate Oliver
- #145 Don Drysdale
- #208 Willie Davis
- #228 Dodgers 1968 Rookie Stars
- #249 Bill Singer
- #266 Paul Popovich
- #281 Jim Campanis
- #298 Jim Brewer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #440 card?
It is card #440 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Claude Osteen of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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 2026-10-12.