1969 Topps #406 Phil Ortega
About Phil Ortega
Washington sold Ortega's contract to the California Angels on April 5, 1969, on the eve of the season. California used him in five relief outings over the first month - eight innings, 13 hits, nine earned runs - and his last major league appearance came on May 4. He pitched in the minors from there through 1972. Card #406 is a 1969 Topps fourth print series number. It still pictures him as a Senator, a club he had already left by Opening Day, and it closes out his eight-card run through the decade's Topps sets.
Phil Ortega, born Filomeno Coronada Ortega on October 7, 1939 in Gilbert, Arizona, was a 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher who appeared in 204 major league games over all or parts of ten seasons from 1960 through 1969. He graduated from Mesa High School in 1959 and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers that year as an amateur free agent for a $75,000 bonus, going straight to Triple-A Spokane. After four seasons of shuttling between Los Angeles and the minors he claimed a rotation spot in 1964. That December the Dodgers packaged him with Frank Howard, Ken McMullen and Pete Richert and sent them to the Washington Senators for Claude Osteen, John Kennedy and $100,000, with Dick Nen completing the deal on December 15. In Washington he pitched for former Dodger teammate Gil Hodges and made 94 starts across three seasons, peaking in 1967. The Senators sold his contract to the California Angels in April 1969, and he made his final big-league appearance that May 4. He finished 46-62 with a 4.43 ERA, 549 strikeouts, 20 complete games and nine shutouts in 951-2/3 innings, then pitched in the minors through 1972.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 216 | 9 | 44 | 112 | 31 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 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 #406 card?
It is card #406 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Phil Ortega of the Washington Senators.
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.