1970 Topps #144 Ray Culp
About Ray Culp
Culp entered 1969 as Boston's staff ace and finished 17-8 with a 3.81 ERA, 227 innings and 172 strikeouts. He pitched in the All-Star Game, facing three batters in the American League's 9-2 loss in Washington. On August 9 he won his 16th game with a third-inning home run off California's Pedro Borbon, the only homer of his career. On May 11, 1970, in Anaheim, he struck out the first six Angels he faced, in a game Boston lost 2-1 in 19 innings. His card is #144, a second-series issue.
Ray Culp, a right-handed pitcher born August 6, 1941, in Elgin, Texas, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies out of Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin for a $100,000 bonus in 1959, then spent four uneven minor-league seasons before sticking in the majors. He debuted on April 10, 1963, and was named The Sporting News' National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year that season, going 14-11 with a 2.97 ERA, 176 strikeouts, five shutouts and an All-Star selection. Elbow trouble knocked him back the following year, and after a bullpen-heavy 1966 he asked to be traded; Philadelphia sent him to the Chicago Cubs that December for Dick Ellsworth, and Chicago dealt him to the Boston Red Sox a year later. Armed with a palmball Roger Craig had shown him back in Philadelphia, he became the Red Sox ace, winning between 14 and 17 games in each of his first four seasons there and making a second All-Star team in 1969. Shoulder surgery and arm trouble ended his career in 1973 at 122-101 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,411 strikeouts over 11 seasons; he went home to Austin and built a real-estate business.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 155 | 9 | 26 | 94 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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: #563 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #10 Carl Yastrzemski
- #39 Mike Nagy
- #62 1969 American League Batting Leaders
- #78 Joe Lahoud
- #104 Gerry Moses
- #116 Sparky Lyle
- #163 Syd O'Brien
- #191 Vicente Romo
- #215 Reggie Smith
- #237 Russ Gibson
- #251 Dick Schofield
- #279 Bill Lee
- #317 Red Sox 1970 Rookie Stars
- #340 Tony Conigliaro
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #144 card?
It is card #144 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ray Culp of the Boston Red Sox.
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.