1969 Topps #581 Gary Nolan
About Gary Nolan
The 1969 card reflects Nolan's 1968 output, a 9-4, 2.40 ERA season salvaged after a spring shoulder injury. On the field in 1969 itself he opened as Cincinnati's Opening Day starter, struck out 12 Dodgers in a loss, then pulled a forearm muscle pitching to Hank Aaron and missed roughly three months, using the time in the minors at Indianapolis to develop the changeup that later offset his diminished fastball. Card #581 belongs to the set's sixth print series.
Gary Nolan broke in with the Cincinnati Reds at age 18 in 1967, striking out the side in his first inning and finishing his rookie year 14-8 with a 2.58 ERA and 206 strikeouts, third in Rookie of the Year voting. Shoulder trouble surfaced the following spring and dogged him for the rest of his career, yet he kept winning: 18-7 in 1970 as the Reds took the NL pennant, a league-leading .750 winning percentage on a 15-5, 1.99 ERA mark in 1972, and 15-9 seasons in both 1975 and 1976 as the Big Red Machine won back-to-back World Series. A calcium spur cost him almost all of 1973 and 1974. He picked up his only World Series win against the Yankees in the 1976 sweep before arm problems ended his run with a brief 1977 stint split between the Reds and California Angels. He retired with a 110-70 record, a 3.08 ERA and 1,039 strikeouts over 250 games. He is not a Hall of Fame inductee.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 419 | 7 | 97 | 207 | 72 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 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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- #120 Pete Rose
- #142 Woody Woodward
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- #213 Gerry Arrigo
- #234 Dave Bristol
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- #318 Jack Fisher
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #581 card?
It is card #581 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gary Nolan 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.