1969 Topps #233 Steve Barber
About Steve Barber
Card #233, a series-3 issue, places Barber with the expansion Seattle Pilots, who took him with the 37th pick of the 1968 expansion draft after the Yankees left him unprotected. It reports a 1968 that began badly: unable to straighten his left arm in spring training, he opened the year at Triple-A Syracuse, came back in June, and went 6-5 with a 3.23 ERA in 19 starts through the Year of the Pitcher.
Steve Barber was a hard-throwing left-hander who anchored the Baltimore Orioles' staff from 1960 into the middle of 1967, part of the young 'Kiddie Korps' rotation with Milt Pappas, Chuck Estrada, Jack Fisher and Jerry Walker. Orioles scout Walter Youse signed him out of Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1957, and three wild years in the low minors followed alongside fellow hard throwers Bo Belinsky and Steve Dalkowski, a trio remembered as 'The Lost Boys.' A live fastball and a heavy sinker made him overpowering when he found the plate: 18 wins in 1961, and in 1963 he became the first pitcher of the modern Orioles to win 20 games in a season. He was an All-Star in 1963 and again in 1966, and was hurt both times without pitching in the game. His elbow gave out in the middle of a dominant 1966 and never fully recovered. He finished 121-106 with a 3.36 ERA over 15 seasons, entered the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1988, and died in 2007.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 185 | 0 | 34 | 88 | 43 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 #233 card?
It is card #233 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Barber of the Seattle Pilots.
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.