1970 Topps #289 Gene Brabender
About Gene Brabender
The Orioles sent Gene Brabender and Gordon Lund to Seattle for Chico Salmon on March 31, 1969. The big right-hander started 29 of his 40 games for the expansion Pilots. He had a 4.36 ERA and struck out 139 batters in 202 1/3 innings. The franchise moved to Milwaukee during 1970 spring training, yet Topps still printed his #289, a third-series card, in Pilots colors.
Gene Brabender was a big right-handed pitcher out of Black Earth, Wisconsin, who broke in with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 as a rookie member of the club that won the World Series that fall. He pitched three seasons in Baltimore, including a four-hit, 12-strikeout shutout of Cleveland in August 1967, before the Orioles sent him to the expansion Seattle Pilots in a 1969 trade. He led the Pilots with 13 wins in their lone Seattle season, a mark that stood as an expansion-team record for years afterward. When the Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, Brabender closed out his five-year major league career there before returning home to work the family dairy farm. Brabender died in 1996 at age 55.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 124 | 0 | 18 | 75 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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
Team card: #713 Seattle Pilots
More Seattle Pilots cards:
- #2 Diego Segui
- #31 Marty Pattin
- #53 John Kennedy
- #88 Pilots 1970 Rookie Stars
- #111 Mike Hegan
- #134 Danny Walton
- #158 Jerry McNertney
- #185 Don Mincher
- #224 Steve Barber
- #249 Bob Locker
- #271 Greg Goossen
- #323 Wayne Comer
- #359 Phil Roof
- #370 Tommy Harper
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #289 card?
It is card #289 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gene Brabender of the Seattle Pilots.
Why does this card say Seattle Pilots?
Because the card prints the Seattle Pilots, and it is correct as printed: the franchise played the 1970 season as the Milwaukee Brewers, but thirty 1970 Topps cards print the Pilots - the #713 team card, #556 Dave Bristol's manager card, the #88 Pilots Rookie Stars and twenty-seven player cards. 1970 Topps is the second and last Topps flagship set with Seattle Pilots cards.
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.