1972 Topps #285 Gaylord Perry
About Gaylord Perry
During the 1971 playoffs, Perry's five-year-old daughter Allison answered a television reporter's question about her father's greaseball with, "It's a hard slider." That November, San Francisco traded Perry and Frank Duffy to Cleveland for Sam McDowell. His 1972 Topps #285 identified him with the Indians in the third series. In his first Cleveland season he worked 342 2/3 innings, completed 29 games and struck out 234 batters.
Gaylord Perry became the first pitcher to win Cy Young Awards in both leagues: with Cleveland in 1972, when he went 24-16 with a 1.92 ERA, and with San Diego in 1978, when he finished 21-6. The right-hander pitched 22 major-league seasons for eight clubs, won 20 games five times, struck out 200 batters eight times and made five All-Star teams. He finished with 314 victories, a 3.11 ERA and 3,534 strikeouts. Perry signed with San Francisco in 1958. Teammate Bob Shaw taught him the spitball in 1964, and Perry described his use of it in the 1974 book Me and the Spitter while claiming he had stopped. His cap-touching and other gestures remained part of his pitching routine; his first ejection for doctoring a ball came in 1982. That year Seattle knew him as the Ancient Mariner, and he earned his 300th victory with a complete-game, 7-3 win over the Yankees on May 6. He and his older brother Jim both won Cy Young Awards and more than 200 games. Gaylord was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 on his third ballot.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 899 | 21 | 191 | 359 | 138 | 83 | 45 | 62 | 0 |
| SGC | 117 | 0 | 5 | 35 | 29 | 19 | 13 | 15 | 1 |
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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #285 card?
It is card #285 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gaylord Perry of the Cleveland Indians.
How many cards are in the 1972 Topps Baseball set?
787 cards, tracked as 794 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 787 with none skipped, in six print series (#1-132, #133-263, #264-394, #395-525, #526-656 and #657-787, the high numbers); 7 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - four Chicago Cubs cards with yellow or green under the "C" and "S" of the team name, the #251 and #478 checklists with smaller or larger print on the front, and the #604 checklist with its copyright line aligned right or left.
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.