1969 Topps #508 Moe Drabowsky
About Moe Drabowsky
The expansion Royals claimed Drabowsky from Baltimore in the draft that stocked their first roster, and card #508, a series-5 issue, lists him with the new Kansas City club above a final Orioles line: 4-4, a 1.91 ERA and seven saves in 45 games in 1968. He gave the Royals the first victory in franchise history on April 8, 1969, a scoreless twelfth inning against Minnesota, and finished that season with 11 wins, the most by any American League relief pitcher.
Myron Walter "Moe" Drabowsky, born July 21, 1935, in Ozanna, Poland, grew up in Connecticut. The Cubs signed him out of Trinity College in 1956 as a $75,000 bonus baby, and in 1957 he struck out 170 batters, tied for second in the National League. His elbow gave out in July 1958, and he became a 17-year journeyman - Cubs, Braves, Reds, Athletics, Orioles, Royals, Cardinals and White Sox - finishing 88-105 with a 3.71 ERA, 55 saves and 1,162 strikeouts. Baltimore remade him as a reliever, and in the 1966 World Series opener he allowed one hit over 6 2/3 innings and struck out 11 Dodgers, a single-game record for a relief pitcher, six in a row to match Hod Eller's 1919 mark. He won a second ring in 1970. Off the mound he was baseball's great prankster: snakes in teammates' lockers, bullpen phone pranks, a hotfoot for Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. He was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and died in 2006.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 216 | 2 | 35 | 108 | 43 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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 #508 card?
It is card #508 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Moe Drabowsky of the Kansas City Royals.
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.