1969 Topps #328 Joe Horlen
About Joe Horlen
Offseason surgery cleared the calcium deposits out of his shoulder and treated the atrophied muscle around it, and Horlen reported to camp in 1969 saying he finally had his arm strength back after a season of pitching in pain. He made 35 starts for the third straight year and led a 94-loss White Sox club with 13 wins, but he also lost a career-high 16 and posted a 3.78 ERA in 235 2/3 innings, the sixth and last time he worked 200. His 1969 Topps card, #328, sits in the fourth series.
Joel Edward Horlen, born August 14, 1937 in San Antonio, Texas, pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1961 through 1971 and closed his career with the 1972 Oakland Athletics. Friends called him Joe. He starred at Oklahoma State, leading the Cowboys past Arizona for the 1959 College World Series title before signing with Chicago, and he is the rare ballplayer to win a Pony League World Series in 1952, a College World Series, and a big-league World Series. A slender right-hander who lived on a hard curve, a sinker and fine control rather than velocity, he anchored a White Sox staff that pitched brilliantly and scored almost nothing, which is how Hard Luck Horlen got his name. From 1964 through 1968 he led all American League pitchers with a combined 2.32 ERA. In 1967 he no-hit Detroit, won the ERA title, made his only All-Star team and finished second in the Cy Young voting. Released in the spring of 1972, he caught on with Oakland and earned a World Series ring in relief that fall. He retired at 116-117 with a 3.11 ERA and 1,065 strikeouts in 2,002 innings, and was later inducted into the Oklahoma State and San Antonio Sports halls of fame. He died in his hometown on April 10, 2022, at 84.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 235 | 1 | 35 | 127 | 49 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #328 card?
It is card #328 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Horlen of the Chicago White Sox.
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.