1977 Topps #265 Mark Fidrych
About Mark Fidrych
Fidrych tore knee cartilage shagging fly balls in spring training and returned May 27 before 44,027 at Tiger Stadium. He won six straight from June 6 to June 29, then felt his arm go dead against Baltimore on July 4 and finished 6-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts. He declined an All-Star invitation. His #265 is a key rookie card of the set, with the All-Star designation and Rookie Cup on the front. #7, the ERA League Leaders card, is shared with Cardinals pitcher John Denny.
Mark Fidrych was a right-handed starter whose 1976 rookie season with the Detroit Tigers made him a national story. He went 19-9, led the majors with a 2.34 ERA, led the American League with 24 complete games, won Rookie of the Year and finished second to Jim Palmer for the Cy Young Award. On the mound he crouched to groom the dirt, talked to the ball, strutted a circle after every out and threw back balls he said had hits in them. Tiger Stadium crowds chanted until he came out of the dugout to tip his cap after home wins, and a June 28 game against the Yankees on ABC drew 47,855. A minor-league coach nicknamed him the Bird for his resemblance to Big Bird of Sesame Street. Injuries ended it: a torn rotator cuff went undiagnosed until 1985, and he finished 29-19 over five seasons through 1980. After a comeback attempt in the Red Sox system he retired in 1983. He settled on a farm in Northborough, Massachusetts, and hauled gravel in a ten-wheel truck. He died there in 2009 at 54. The Baseball Reliquary inducted him into its Shrine of the Eternals in 2002, and the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame inducted him posthumously in 2009.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,894 | 17 | 141 | 599 | 390 | 296 | 235 | 216 | 0 |
| SGC | 315 | 0 | 10 | 56 | 81 | 68 | 37 | 60 | 3 |
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 Mark Fidrych in this set: #7 League Leaders
Team card: #621 Detroit Tigers Team
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #7 1976 ERA Leaders
- #22 Bill Freehan
- #43 Ray Bare
- #69 Jim Crawford
- #98 Milt May
- #122 Ben Oglivie
- #145 Tom Veryzer
- #173 Chuck Scrivener
- #240 Ron LeFlore
- #291 Jason Thompson
- #311 Vern Ruhle
- #363 Dave Roberts
- #420 Rusty Staub
- #453 Pedro Garcia
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1977 Topps #265 card?
It is card #265 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers.
Why is #265 an All-Star card, a Rookie Cup card and a rookie card at once?
#265 is Mark Fidrych's rookie card, and it is also a printed All-Star card and carries the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup - one of the few Topps cards to carry all three at once.
What are the key cards in the 1977 Topps set?
The key cards are #144 Bruce Sutter (his rookie card), #140 Mike Schmidt, #265 Mark Fidrych (his rookie card), #285 Brooks Robinson (PSA calls it his final active-player card), #473 1977 Rookie Outfielders (the Andre Dawson rookie) and #650 Nolan Ryan. The set was issued as one series, #1-660, so it has no high numbers.
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.