1969 Topps #79 Milt Pappas
About Milt Pappas
Card 79, a series-1 issue, is the first to picture Pappas in an Atlanta uniform. Back trouble cost him most of July and dropped him into the bullpen, and he finished 6-10 with a 3.63 ERA while a September surge carried the Braves to the National League West title, the franchise's first postseason trip since its Milwaukee days in 1958. He pitched in October only once, relieving in Game Two against the Mets with Atlanta down 6-0 and giving up three runs over two and a third innings.
Milton Steven Pappas, born May 11, 1939, in Detroit to Greek immigrant parents, pitched 17 seasons in the majors from 1957 through 1973 as a control artist for the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. Signed out of Detroit's Cooley High School for a $4,000 bonus, he got only a two-week taste of the minors before debuting at 18 in August 1957. He anchored Baltimore's young Kiddie Korps staff with Chuck Estrada, Steve Barber, Jack Fisher and Jerry Walker, won in double figures eleven straight seasons, and was an All-Star in 1962, when he pitched in both of that summer's two All-Star Games, and again in 1965, when he started the game. In December 1965 Baltimore sent him, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson to Cincinnati for Frank Robinson, remembered as one of the most lopsided trades ever made. He later pitched for the Braves and Cubs, no-hitting San Diego on September 2, 1972, and retired with 209 wins, 164 losses and a 3.40 ERA in 3,186 innings without ever winning 20 in a season. He is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame; Baltimore elected him to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1985. He died April 19, 2016, at 76.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 243 | 1 | 45 | 95 | 60 | 25 | 12 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 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 Atlanta Braves cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #33 Wayne Causey
- #53 Sonny Jackson
- #100 Hank Aaron
- #128 Tommie Aaron
- #154 Jim Britton
- #177 Ron Reed
- #196 Lum Harris
- #210 Felix Millan
- #238 Ken Johnson
- #261 Bob Johnson
- #282 Pat Jarvis
- #300 Felipe Alou
- #331 Braves 1969 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #79 card?
It is card #79 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Milt Pappas of the Atlanta Braves.
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.