1970 Topps #400 Denny McLain
About Denny McLain
Detroit shows up on all three of McLain's 1970 Topps cards. Card #70 is the American League wins leaders card and lists him first, ahead of Mike Cuellar, Dave Boswell, Dave McNally, Jim Perry and Mel Stottlemyre. Card #400 is his own fourth-series card and #467 sits in the All-Stars subset in the fifth series. Sports Illustrated and Penthouse ran articles on his bookmaking in February 1970, and Bowie Kuhn set the suspension at the first three months of the season.
Dennis Dale McLain signed with the Chicago White Sox out of Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago in 1962, only for the Detroit Tigers to claim him on waivers the following April. He reached Detroit on September 21, 1963 at the age of 19 and homered in his major-league debut, the only home run he would ever hit. He relied heavily on his fastball, and it cost him home runs: he led the American League in home runs allowed three straight years, 1966 through 1968. His signature season came in 1968, when he went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA to become the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season, taking both the American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player honors as Detroit won the World Series. A second straight Cy Young followed in 1969, shared with Baltimore's Mike Cuellar. McLain was a three-time All-Star, in 1966, 1968 and 1969. Suspensions, gambling troubles and a worn-out arm then undid him: traded to the Washington Senators in October 1970, he lost 22 games in 1971 and finished with Oakland and Atlanta in 1972, out of baseball by 1973. He retired 131-91 with a 3.39 ERA and 1,282 strikeouts over ten seasons.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 353 | 2 | 27 | 146 | 77 | 50 | 19 | 32 | 0 |
| SGC | 43 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 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 Denny McLain in this set: #70 League Leaders, #467 All-Stars
Team card: #579 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #12 John Hiller
- #33 Don Wert
- #70 1969 American League Pitching Leaders
- #72 1969 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #95 Earl Wilson
- #98 Gates Brown
- #129 Jimmie Price
- #152 Ike Brown
- #177 Jim Northrup
- #207 Tigers 1970 Rookie Stars
- #269 Cesar Gutierrez
- #313 Mayo Smith
- #335 Bill Freehan
- #356 Fred Lasher
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #400 card?
It is card #400 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers.
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.