1969 Topps #185 Tom Phoebus
About Tom Phoebus
Phoebus started fast in 1969 with two shutouts and finished 14-7 with a 3.52 ERA in 202 innings, though the arrivals of Mike Cuellar and a healthy Jim Palmer pushed him down the rotation. He beat Cleveland on September 13 to clinch the American League East, though he did not pitch in the playoffs or World Series that fall. He appears on two cards this year: card #185, from the second print series, and card #532, from the sixth print series, shared with fellow Orioles pitchers Jim Hardin, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar.
Tom Phoebus was a right-handed pitcher who spent seven seasons in the majors, 1966 to 1972, most of them with his hometown Baltimore Orioles. A Baltimore native who signed with the Orioles for a $10,000 bonus after high school, he debuted in September 1966 by throwing shutouts in each of his first two starts, becoming just the fourth American League pitcher to do so. He anchored the Orioles rotation the next three years, throwing a no-hitter against the Red Sox on April 27, 1968, and winning Game Two of the 1970 World Series in relief as Baltimore beat Cincinnati. Traded to San Diego after the 1970 season, he closed his career with the Padres and Chicago Cubs in 1972. He finished 56-52 with a 3.33 ERA and 725 strikeouts over 1,030 innings, then taught grade-school physical education in Florida. He died in 2019 at age 77.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 178 | 2 | 30 | 91 | 30 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 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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Related cards
More Tom Phoebus in this set: #532 Bird Hill Aces
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #7 American League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #9 American League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Boog Powell
- #37 Curt Motton
- #66 Orioles 1969 Rookie Stars
- #86 Pete Richert
- #113 Dave May
- #141 Bill Dillman
- #151 Clay Dalrymple
- #203 Dave Johnson
- #228 Dave Leonhard
- #250 Frank Robinson
- #277 Rod Hendricks
- #299 Mark Belanger
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #185 card?
It is card #185 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tom Phoebus of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.