1977 Topps #489 Rookie Pitchers - Len Barker / Randy Lerch / Greg Minton / Mike Overy
On this card: Len Barker, Randy Lerch, Greg Minton, Mike Overy
About this card
Cards #472-479 and #487-494 are the sixteen four-player Rookie Prospects cards. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #472, #473, #474, #475, #487, #489, #491 and #493 at least one of the four had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
The story on this card
Barker came up from Triple-A Tucson and went 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA for Texas, mostly in relief with three starts, striking out 51 in 47 1/3 innings. His first big league win had come in the last game of 1976, a 3-0 shutout of the White Sox. Card #489 puts him first on a four-man Rookie Prospects card with Phillies pitcher Randy Lerch, Giants pitcher Greg Minton and Angels pitcher Mike Overy, and is his rookie card. Len Barker pitched the major leagues' tenth perfect game for Cleveland on May 15, 1981. A hard-throwing right-hander for Texas, Cleveland, Atlanta and Milwaukee, he led the AL in strikeouts in 1980 and 1981 and finished 74-76.
Lerch won the fourth rotation spot in spring training and lost his first start of the season on April 13, then took a no-hitter into the seventh at Wrigley Field five days later for his first major league win. He was 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA on May 16, slumped through the summer, and finished 10-6 with a 5.07 ERA. His card, #489, is a Rookie Prospects issue shared with Len Barker, Greg Minton and Mike Overy. Left-hander Randy Lerch pitched for the Phillies, Brewers, Expos and Giants from 1975 to 1986 and was a Philadelphia rotation starter from 1977 to 1980. Teammates called him Blade.
Minton made two starts for the 1977 Giants, going 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 14 innings. He had a hit in one of his three at-bats. His #489 is a Rookie Prospects card shared with Len Barker of the Rangers, Randy Lerch of the Phillies and Mike Overy of the Angels, and it is Minton's rookie card. Greg Minton, nicknamed Moon Man, was a sinkerballing reliever for the Giants and Angels from 1975 to 1990. He saved 30 games with a 1.83 ERA in 1982, an All-Star year, and allowed Pete Rose's 4,256th hit.
Overy struck out eight batters for the 1976 Angels. Topps put him on #489, a four-man Rookie Prospects card with Len Barker of the Rangers, Randy Lerch of the Phillies and Greg Minton of the Giants. Overy is printed with the Angels. Barker, Minton and Overy have their rookie cards here. Right-hander from Clinton, Illinois, and Olivet Nazarene University who pitched five relief games for the 1976 California Angels, August 14 to September 9, going 0-2 with a 6.14 ERA. He died in 2021.
Sources: Wikipedia (Len Barker) · Wikipedia (Randy Lerch) · Wikipedia (Greg Minton) · Wikipedia (Mike Overy) · SABR BioProject (Len Barker) · SABR BioProject (Randy Lerch) · BaseballCardPedia (1) · BaseballCardPedia (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 186 | 28 | 78 | 48 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 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 cards: #428 Texas Rangers Team, #467 Philadelphia Phillies Team, #211 San Francisco Giants Team, #34 California Angels Team
More Texas Rangers cards:
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #2 1976 Home Run Leaders
- #30 Greg Luzinski
- #59 Larry Christenson
- #84 Ollie Brown
- #110 Steve Carlton
- #140 Mike Schmidt
More San Francisco Giants cards:
More California Angels cards:
- #6 1976 Strikeout Leaders
- #16 Bob Jones
- #68 Bruce Bochte
- #91 John Verhoeven
- #107 Bill Melton
- #131 Orlando Ramirez
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1977 Topps #489 card?
It is card #489 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Len Barker, Randy Lerch, Greg Minton and Mike Overy. Cards #472-479 and #487-494 are the sixteen four-player Rookie Prospects cards. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #472, #473, #474, #475, #487, #489, #491 and #493 at least one of the four had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
Is 1977 Topps #489 a rookie card?
Yes - #489 is the rookie card of Len Barker, Greg Minton and Mike Overy. Randy Lerch had already appeared on an earlier Topps card, so it is not his rookie card.
How many cards are in the 1977 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and distributed as a single series. No card carries a catalogued print variation, so the base set and the master set are the same 660 cards.
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.