1977 Topps #615 Phil Niekro
About Phil Niekro
Niekro worked 270 2/3 innings and struck out 173 batters for Atlanta in 1976. The #615 card in 1977 Topps shows him with the Braves. The 1977 club was the Braves' worst team in more than 40 years, and Niekro went 16-20 to lead the National League in losses. He also led the league with 330 1/3 innings, 20 complete games and 262 strikeouts.
Phil Niekro, the son of an Ohio coal miner who taught him the knuckleball in the backyard, signed with the Milwaukee Braves organization in 1959 and reached the majors on April 15, 1964, after spending the 1963 season in the Army. The Sporting News first put his nickname, Knucksie, in print in 1969. That one pitch carried him through 24 major-league seasons, nearly all of them with the Braves from 1964 through 1983 plus a 1987 return, with later stops in New York, Cleveland and Toronto. He finished 318-274 with a 3.35 ERA and 3,342 strikeouts. He made five All-Star teams, won five Gold Gloves, led the National League in wins twice, in 1974 and 1979, and led the major leagues in ERA at 1.87 in 1967. On August 5, 1973, he no-hit the San Diego Padres for the Braves' first no-hitter since the move to Atlanta. At 46, on October 6, 1985, he shut out Toronto for career win number 300, and he is still the only knuckleballer to reach 300. He and younger brother Joe won 539 games between them, the most by any pair of brothers. The Hall of Fame elected him in 1997, his fifth year on the ballot, and he died in December 2020 at 81.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 348 | 12 | 99 | 138 | 39 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 0 |
| SGC | 28 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 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 1977 Topps #615 card?
It is card #615 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves.
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.