1969 Topps #104 Steve Blass
About Steve Blass
Blass followed his breakout with a 16-10 season in 1969, setting a career high with 147 strikeouts even as his ERA rose to 4.46, while the Pirates finished third behind the pennant-winning Mets. Card number 104, in the first series, shows him with the Pittsburgh Pirates during that career-high strikeout year.
Steve Blass pitched his entire ten-season career for the Pittsburgh Pirates, breaking in during 1964 and settling in as a rotation regular from 1966 on. He peaked between 1968 and 1972, topping out with an 18-6, 2.12 ERA season in 1968 and a 19-8 mark in 1972 that made him an All-Star and Cy Young runner-up. His signature moment came in the 1971 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles, where he threw two complete-game victories, including the clincher in Game Seven, finishing runner-up for Series MVP behind Roberto Clemente. After 1972 he lost his control almost overnight, a decline so sudden and unexplained that it entered the baseball lexicon as its own syndrome. He pitched sparingly in 1973 and 1974 before retiring, then spent decades afterward as a Pirates broadcaster, later inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates and Charleston, West Virginia baseball halls of fame. A right-hander who signed with Pittsburgh out of a Connecticut high school in 1960, he finished with a 103-76 record and a 3.63 ERA over 1,597.1 innings.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 253 | 0 | 13 | 103 | 88 | 29 | 13 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1969 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #8 National League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #36 Luke Walker
- #50 Bob Clemente
- #82 Pirates 1969 Rookie Stars
- #131 Chris Cannizzaro
- #152 Tommie Sisk
- #175 Jim Bunning
- #192 Jose Pagan
- #219 Freddie Patek
- #243 Ron Kline
- #263 Jerry May
- #286 Dock Ellis
- #307 Gary Kolb
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #104 card?
It is card #104 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Blass of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.