1969 Topps #453 Mike Cuellar
About Mike Cuellar
In his first season with Baltimore, Cuellar went 23-11 with a 2.38 ERA as the Orioles won a club-record 109 games and the first AL East title. He shared the American League Cy Young Award with Denny McLain, becoming the first Latin American-born pitcher to win it, and started Game 1 of both the ALCS and the World Series, beating Tom Seaver and the Mets in the Series opener before Baltimore fell in five games. His 1969 Topps card, #453 in the fifth series, lists him with Baltimore, and he also shares a card, #532 in the sixth series, with teammates Tom Phoebus, Jim Hardin and Dave McNally.
Miguel Angel Cuellar Santana, a Cuban left-hander, spent years working through Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland and St. Louis farm systems before a screwball, picked up on a teammate's advice, turned his career around in 1964. Traded to Houston in mid-1965, he grew into a durable starter, then reached stardom after a December 1968 trade sent him to Baltimore. With the Orioles he won 20 or more games four times, shared the 1969 American League Cy Young Award with Denny McLain, and helped Baltimore capture three straight pennants and the 1970 World Series title. Teammates called him Crazy Horse for an elaborate set of pregame and in-game superstitions he never varied. He finished his career with the California Angels in 1977 and 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 | 281 | 2 | 33 | 126 | 65 | 27 | 13 | 15 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 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 Mike Cuellar in this set: #532 Bird Hill Aces
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 #453 card?
It is card #453 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike Cuellar 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.