1969 Topps #26 Clay Carroll
About Clay Carroll
1969 Topps #26, part of the set's first print series, pictures Carroll with the Cincinnati Reds. In his first full season there he carried a career-high workload, 150-2/3 innings over 71 games, going 12-6 with a 3.52 ERA and seven saves while offseason pickup Wayne Granger took most of the save chances. The moment he remembered best came on May 30 in St. Louis, when he hit a two-out tenth-inning home run off Bob Gibson to beat the Cardinals 4-3, the only home run of his big-league career.
Clay Carroll grew up in the cotton mill town of Clanton, Alabama, one of nine children of a mill worker, and signed with the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1961 for $1,000. He reached the majors in September 1964 and became a bullpen regular by 1966, leading the National League that year with 73 appearances for the Braves. A June 1968 trade sent him to Cincinnati, where he became the workhorse of the Big Red Machine bullpen, and teammates called him Hawk for the way his profile resembled the bird. He made the National League All-Star team in 1971 and 1972, and in 1972 he led the league with 37 saves and was named The Sporting News Fireman of the Year. Carroll worked nine shutout innings in the 1970 World Series and won the only game Cincinnati took from Baltimore, then won Game Seven of the 1975 World Series, the game that brought the Reds their first championship in 35 years. He later pitched for the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, making his last big-league appearance in 1978 and finishing 96-73 with 143 saves. Cincinnati elected him to the Reds Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame followed in 1992.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 530 | 24 | 206 | 235 | 40 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 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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Related cards
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #70 Tommy Helms
- #81 Mel Queen
- #95 Johnny Bench
- #120 Pete Rose
- #142 Woody Woodward
- #187 Leon Wagner
- #213 Gerry Arrigo
- #234 Dave Bristol
- #259 Bill Short
- #280 Alex Johnson
- #295 Tony Perez
- #318 Jack Fisher
- #339 Reds 1969 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #26 card?
It is card #26 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Clay Carroll of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.