1969 Topps #374 Bob Tillman
About Bob Tillman
Number 374, from the fourth series, covers an odd season. Tillman left camp in March for unstated personal reasons, stayed away two and a half weeks amid retirement rumors, came back, and beat out rookies Bob Didier and Walt Hriniak for a fourth Opening Day start. Didier's cannon arm soon took the job. Tillman played 69 games, started 52, and hit .195, but the power returned: 12 home runs in 190 at-bats, three of them off Phillies lefty Grant Jackson in one July 30 game at Connie Mack Stadium, the same game in which Hank Aaron passed Mickey Mantle for third on the career home run list. Atlanta took the National League West, then was swept by the Mets in the Championship Series; Tillman never batted, but got one defensive inning in the final game.
John Robert Tillman, a 6-foot-4 right-handed catcher born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 24, 1937, caught nine big-league seasons for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1970. Signed out of Middle Tennessee State by Red Sox scout George Digby in January 1958, he climbed through Raleigh, Allentown, Minneapolis, and Seattle before sticking in Boston in 1962. He was the Red Sox Opening Day catcher three years running from 1963, and his 17 home runs in 1964 set a club single-season record for a catcher that stood until Carlton Fisk hit 22 in 1972. Tillman worked behind the plate for two no-hitters, Earl Wilson's in 1962 and Dave Morehead's in 1965. Sold to the Yankees in August 1967, he went to Atlanta that December in the trade that sent Bobby Cox to New York, backing up Joe Torre and then Bob Didier and reaching the postseason when the Braves won the first National League West title in 1969. He retired after 775 games with a .232 average, 79 home runs, and 282 RBIs. He died in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 2000.
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 | 238 | 9 | 49 | 137 | 34 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #374 card?
It is card #374 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Tillman of the Atlanta Braves.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
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 2026-10-12.