1969 Topps #255 Steve Carlton
About Steve Carlton
Card #255 is a third-series card. It reports 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, when Carlton went 13-11 with a 2.99 ERA and five shutouts across 33 starts and was named to his first All-Star team while teammate Bob Gibson finished at 1.12. St. Louis won the pennant again, and Carlton worked two games in relief in the World Series, allowing three runs over four innings as Detroit came back from three games to one to win in seven. That offseason, facing Sadaharu Oh in Japan, he began throwing the slider that would define the rest of his career.
Steve Carlton, the left-hander everyone in the game called Lefty, pitched 24 major league seasons from 1965 through 1988 for the Cardinals, Phillies, Giants, White Sox, Indians and Twins after signing with St. Louis in 1963 for a $5,000 bonus while he was attending Miami Dade College. A salary fight with owner Gussie Busch sent him to Philadelphia for Rick Wise in February 1972, and he answered with one of the great individual seasons in the game's history: 27-10, a 1.97 ERA, 310 strikeouts and 30 complete games for a Phillies club that won only 59 games all year. That season brought a pitching Triple Crown and the first of his four Cy Young Awards, in 1972, 1977, 1980 and 1982, making him the first pitcher to win four. He was a ten-time All-Star, took a Gold Glove in 1981, and won World Series rings with the 1967 Cardinals and the 1980 Phillies, going 2-0 with 17 strikeouts against Kansas City in that 1980 Series. He retired with 329 wins, a 3.22 ERA and 4,136 strikeouts, the second-most of any left-hander, and the Hall of Fame elected him in 1994, his first year on the ballot.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,979 | 5 | 80 | 455 | 424 | 366 | 260 | 386 | 3 |
| SGC | 429 | 0 | 4 | 37 | 95 | 84 | 104 | 95 | 10 |
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 St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #8 National League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #10 National League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1968 Strikeout Leaders
- #18 Dick Schofield
- #39 Dick Hughes
- #60 Nelson Briles
- #85 Lou Brock
- #110 Mike Shannon
- #136 Cardinals 1969 Rookie Stars
- #160 Vada Pinson
- #162 World Series Game #1 - Gibson Fans 17; Sets New Record!
- #164 World Series Game #3 - McCarver's Homer Puts St. Louis Ahead
- #165 World Series Game #4 - Brock's Lead-Off HR Starts Cards' Romp
- #181 Mel Nelson
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #255 card?
It is card #255 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.