1970 Topps #430 A. Messersmith
About A. Messersmith
A shoulder injury from a slide and damaged ribs affected Messersmith in 1970. He went 11-10 with a 3.01 ERA in 37 appearances, including 26 starts, and pitched 194 2/3 innings. Topps put the Angels pitcher on fourth-series #430 and on #72 with Sam McDowell and Mickey Lolich, the American League strikeout leaders.
Andy Messersmith was a right-handed pitcher for the Angels, Dodgers, Braves and Yankees from 1968 through 1979. He finished 130-99 with a 2.86 ERA in 2,230 1/3 innings and won Gold Gloves in 1974 and 1975. At Western High School in Anaheim, coach Dave Hernandez taught him the slider; he later attended the University of California, Berkeley, on a baseball scholarship. Messersmith and Dave McNally challenged baseball's reserve clause in 1975. Arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled that a club could renew an unsigned player's contract without his consent for one year, not indefinitely, making both pitchers free agents. Messersmith subsequently signed a 3-year, $1 million contract with Atlanta.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 134 | 1 | 20 | 63 | 32 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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 A. Messersmith in this set: #72 League Leaders
Team card: #522 California Angels
More California Angels cards:
- #4 Tom Egan
- #29 Sandy Alomar
- #72 1969 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #74 Angels 1970 Rookie Stars
- #132 Jim McGlothlin
- #156 Eddie Fisher
- #173 Jim Hicks
- #203 Rudy May
- #228 Aurelio Rodriguez
- #255 Jim Spencer
- #277 Paul Doyle
- #294 Jose Azcue
- #326 Bill Voss
- #351 Tom Murphy
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #430 card?
It is card #430 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing A. Messersmith of the California Angels.
How many cards are in the 1970 Topps Baseball set?
720 cards, tracked as 726 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 720 with none skipped, issued in seven series - #1-132, #133-263, #264-372, #373-459, #460-546, #547-633 and the high numbers, #634-720; 6 cards, all of them checklists, carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-25.