1969 Topps #96 Denver Lemaster
About Denver Lemaster
Card #96 is a first-series issue reporting Lemaster's first year in Houston, and a career-low 2.81 ERA that bought him almost nothing. He had added a screwball, and his early work included a three-hit shutout of the reigning world champion Cardinals. Then the Houston bats went quiet: in the 15 starts he did not win he carried a 1.96 ERA and took 10 losses, and he came out of the Year of the Pitcher at 10-15 with seven complete games, two shutouts and 146 strikeouts over 224 innings. The context is worth knowing - St. Louis's Nelson Briles posted the same 2.81 ERA that season and went 19-11.
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 | 405 | 3 | 130 | 202 | 36 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 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 Houston Astros cards:
- #35 Joe Morgan
- #58 Fred Gladding
- #76 Norm Miller
- #119 Doug Rader
- #156 Astros 1969 Rookie Stars
- #186 John Edwards
- #202 Don Wilson
- #208 Donn Clendenon
- #257 Jim Ray
- #278 Gary Geiger
- #308 Wade Blasingame
- #337 Marty Martinez
- #360 Jim Wynn
- #389 Dan Coombs
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #96 card?
It is card #96 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Denver Lemaster of the Houston Astros.
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.