1969 Topps #614 Houston Rookie Stars - Tom Griffin / Skip Guinn
On this card: Tom Griffin, Skip Guinn
About this card
This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
The story on this card
Griffin's rookie season was his best full workload: 11-10 with a 3.54 ERA over 31 starts and 188.1 innings for the Astros, striking out 200 batters while walking a career-high 93. He debuted April 10 against San Diego, and needed the season's final start, against Cincinnati on September 28, to reach the 200-strikeout mark. His card is a high number in the seventh print series, a Rookie Stars issue shared with Skip Guinn, and is recognized as Griffin's rookie card. Astros first-round pick out of a Los Angeles high school, Tom Griffin pitched 14 big-league seasons for five clubs, his best year coming with a 14-win 1974 season in Houston.
Traded from the Braves to the Astros in April 1969 after Donn Clendenon refused to report to Houston, Guinn pitched the bulk of his career that season, appearing in 28 games out of the bullpen for Houston and striking out 33 over 27 innings. Topps pictured him on card #614, a series 7 high number, sharing space in the Astros Rookie Stars subset with fellow pitcher Tom Griffin. It stands as Guinn's recognized rookie card. Left-handed reliever who bounced between the Braves and Astros from 1968-71, arriving in Houston via an April 1969 trade after Donn Clendenon balked at reporting there.
Sources: Wikipedia (Tom Griffin) · Wikipedia (Skip Guinn)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 379 | 6 | 74 | 192 | 78 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 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
- #96 Denver Lemaster
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #614 card?
It is card #614 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tom Griffin and Skip Guinn. This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
Is 1969 Topps #614 a rookie card?
Yes - #614 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Tom Griffin and Skip Guinn.
Why is #614 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #589-664 - the scarce end of the set.
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.