1969 Topps #528 Claude Osteen
About Claude Osteen
Baseball lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 for 1969 and brought back the older strike zone. Where other pitchers grumbled, Osteen welcomed it, predicting that pitchers would now go in more for control than for raring back and throwing, which described his own game exactly. The result was his best year: 20 wins for the first time, a 2.66 ERA, and career highs of 321 innings, 183 strikeouts, 16 complete games and seven shutouts, second in the league in that last category. Card #528 sits in the sixth series, and it catches him at his peak.
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 | 435 | 16 | 132 | 201 | 54 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 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.
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Related cards
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- #24 Walt Alston
- #47 Paul Popovich
- #65 Willie Davis
- #94 Hank Aguirre
- #122 Ron Fairly
- #139 Andy Kosco
- #140 Jim Lefebvre
- #161 John Purdin
- #216 Don Sutton
- #241 Jim Brewer
- #266 Dodgers 1969 Rookie Stars
- #289 Bart Shirley
- #310 Tom Haller
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #528 card?
It is card #528 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Claude Osteen of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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.