1969 Topps #290 Jim Kaat
About Jim Kaat
By 1968 the Twins had dropped to seventh at 79-83, and #290 carries Kaat's share of that year: 14-12 with a 2.94 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 208 innings, 30 appearances with 29 starts, nine complete games and a seventh straight Gold Glove. It was a respectable season on a team that was out of the race by June rather than a memorable one. By the time this third-series card reached packs, Billy Martin had the manager's job and Kaat was the third starter behind 20-game winners Jim Perry and Dave Boswell on a club that would win the first American League West title.
Jim Kaat pitched 25 seasons in the major leagues, 1959 through 1983, the longest career any pitcher had put together to that point, and spent the heart of it as the left-handed anchor of the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins staff before finishing with the White Sox, Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. A 6-foot-4 southpaw nicknamed Kitty, he worked so fast between pitches that he confounded umpires and annoyed the hitters standing in against him. He won 283 games, 190 of them for the Senators and Twins, more than anyone in the Minnesota era of the franchise, and put together three 20-win seasons, with a record eight-year gap between the first two. He was a three-time All-Star and the most decorated fielding pitcher of his era, taking 16 straight Gold Gloves, still the longest run at the position, though Greg Maddux later won more in total. He waited until he was 43 to get a World Series ring, working out of the bullpen for the 1982 Cardinals. He finished with a 3.45 ERA, 2,461 strikeouts, 180 complete games and 898 appearances, then spent more than two decades as an Emmy-winning broadcaster. The writers never came close to electing him; the Golden Days Era Committee did, for the Hall of Fame class of 2022.
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 | 400 | 2 | 38 | 169 | 84 | 58 | 22 | 26 | 1 |
| SGC | 38 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 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 Minnesota Twins cards:
- #1 American League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #30 Bob Allison
- #56 Rich Reese
- #77 Ron Perranoski
- #99 Twins 1969 Rookie Stars
- #121 Joe Grzenda
- #146 Jim Perry
- #194 Ted Uhlaender
- #218 John Roseboro
- #242 Frank Kostro
- #265 Chico Cardenas
- #317 Bruce Look
- #336 Jim Roland
- #356 Frank Quilici
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #290 card?
It is card #290 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Kaat of the Minnesota Twins.
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.