1969 Topps #573 Jim Palmer
About Jim Palmer
Card #573 is Palmer's only card in the 1969 set, a sixth-series issue printed when he had not thrown a big-league pitch since two September starts in 1967. His arm stopped hurting that winter in Puerto Rico, and the comeback was total: 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA and six shutouts, each second best in the American League, despite six weeks lost to a torn back muscle. He no-hit Oakland on August 13 in his second start back, then beat Minnesota to finish a playoff sweep.
James Alvin Palmer pitched all 19 of his major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles (1965-1967, 1969-1984), reaching the majors at 19 and finishing as the winningest pitcher of the 1970s with 186 wins. A right-hander whose best pitch was a high fastball, he worked on three World Series champions (1966, 1970, 1983) and six American League pennant winners, and he is the only pitcher to win a World Series game in three different decades. His Game Two shutout of Los Angeles in the 1966 Series, thrown nine days before his 21st birthday, made him the youngest man to pitch a complete-game shutout in a Series and sent Sandy Koufax off in his final appearance. Palmer won three Cy Young Awards (1973, 1975, 1976), four straight Gold Gloves (1976-1979), two ERA titles and six All-Star selections, and he won 20 or more games eight times, finishing 268-152 with a 2.86 ERA, 211 complete games and 53 shutouts. Arm trouble cost him most of 1967 and all of 1968, but he came back in 1969 with the only no-hitter of his career. Teammates called him Cakes for the pancakes he ate on the mornings he pitched. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, his first year of eligibility.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 2,071 | 13 | 157 | 639 | 464 | 327 | 202 | 269 | 0 |
| SGC | 388 | 1 | 3 | 57 | 99 | 95 | 72 | 59 | 2 |
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 Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #7 American League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #9 American League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Boog Powell
- #37 Curt Motton
- #66 Orioles 1969 Rookie Stars
- #86 Pete Richert
- #113 Dave May
- #141 Bill Dillman
- #151 Clay Dalrymple
- #185 Tom Phoebus
- #203 Dave Johnson
- #228 Dave Leonhard
- #250 Frank Robinson
- #277 Rod Hendricks
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #573 card?
It is card #573 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.