1969 Topps #480 Tom Seaver
About Tom Seaver
1969 Topps #480 is a series-5 card, and it caught Seaver in the season that turned the Mets around. He led the league with 25 wins, including nine straight complete-game victories, and on July 9 at Shea Stadium he retired the first 25 Cubs before Jim Qualls singled in the ninth. He beat Phil Niekro in the first NLCS game, lost World Series Game 1 to Mike Cuellar, then won Game 4 with a 10-inning complete game, 2-1.
Tom Seaver, nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise," pitched 20 major-league seasons (1967-1986) for the Mets, Reds, White Sox and Red Sox. After Commissioner William Eckert voided his 1966 contract with the Atlanta Braves, the Mets won his signing rights in a lottery over the Phillies and Indians, and he broke in with a 16-13, 2.76 ERA season that made him the first Met to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. He went 25-7 for the 1969 Miracle Mets, who won the franchise's first World Series, and took the first of three NL Cy Young Awards (1969, 1973, 1975). A twelve-time All-Star, he won three ERA titles as a Met, struck out a record 10 straight Padres to close a 19-strikeout game in 1970, and topped 200 strikeouts in nine straight seasons. In June 1977 the Mets traded him to Cincinnati in what New York reporters called the Midnight Massacre; after five one-hitters as a Met, he threw his only no-hitter for the Reds in 1978. He came back to the Mets in 1983, won his 300th game for the White Sox in 1985, and finished with 311 wins and 3,640 strikeouts. In 1992 the baseball writers elected him to the Hall of Fame with 98.84 percent of the vote, then the highest ever.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 4,614 | 1 | 35 | 428 | 802 | 1,023 | 837 | 1,484 | 4 |
| SGC | 1,418 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 167 | 274 | 368 | 564 | 21 |
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 #480 card?
It is card #480 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tom Seaver of the New York Mets.
What are the key cards in the 1969 Topps set?
The #500 Mickey Mantle - his last Topps card as an active player, printed with his name in yellow letters and, far scarcer, in white letters - is the grail of the set, and the #260 Reggie Jackson rookie card is its headline rookie. The other major keys are #50 Bob Clemente (printed "Bob" on the front), #95 Johnny Bench, #100 Hank Aaron, #120 Pete Rose, #190 Willie Mays, #480 Tom Seaver, #533 Nolan Ryan (his first solo card; the rookie is 1968 #177) and #597 AL Rookie Stars with Rollie Fingers. The high numbers (#589-664) are the hardest run in the set.
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.