1969 Topps #70 Tommy Helms
About Tommy Helms
In 1969 Helms hit .269 over 126 games, mostly at second base, for the Reds as the club built toward its 1970 pennant run. Card #70, from the first print series, is his base issue with Cincinnati. Card #418, from the fourth print series, is a Sporting News All-Star subset entry honoring his standing among the league's second basemen.
Tommy Helms broke in as a shortstop but made his name as one of the surest gloves the Cincinnati Reds ever ran out at second base. Signed by the Reds out of Charlotte, North Carolina in 1959, he climbed through Palatka, Topeka, Macon and San Diego before a September 1964 call-up. In 1966 the Reds shifted him from short to third to make room for Leo Cardenas and Pete Rose, and Helms won National League Rookie of the Year. Moved to second base in 1967, he made back-to-back All-Star teams and later won Gold Gloves in 1970 and 1971, leading NL second basemen in fielding percentage three times. A November 1971 trade sent him to Houston for Joe Morgan, and he closed his fourteen-year career with Pittsburgh and Boston. He later managed the Reds for parts of 1988 and 1989. He is not a Hall of Fame inductee.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 220 | 0 | 27 | 84 | 64 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 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 Tommy Helms in this set: #418 Sporting News All-Stars
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #26 Clay Carroll
- #81 Mel Queen
- #95 Johnny Bench
- #120 Pete Rose
- #142 Woody Woodward
- #187 Leon Wagner
- #213 Gerry Arrigo
- #234 Dave Bristol
- #259 Bill Short
- #280 Alex Johnson
- #295 Tony Perez
- #318 Jack Fisher
- #339 Reds 1969 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #70 card?
It is card #70 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tommy Helms of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.