1977 Topps #217 Tom Underwood
About Tom Underwood
The Phillies moved Underwood to the bullpen in 1977, and he was 3-2 with a 5.13 ERA when they sent him, Rick Bosetti and Dane Iorg to St. Louis in June for Bake McBride and minor leaguer Steve Waterbury. He insisted, "I'm a starter, not a relief pitcher." He went 6-9 with a 4.95 ERA as a Cardinal, and his 5.00 mark over the full year was the highest of his career. Card #217 pictures him with the Phillies.
Tom Underwood was a left-handed pitcher who worked 11 seasons, 1974 to 1984, for six clubs: the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Yankees, Athletics and Orioles. He grew up in Kokomo, Indiana, where he went 17-3 with a 0.40 ERA over his junior and senior years of high school while also quarterbacking the football team. Phillies scout Tony Lucadello watched him strike out 25 batters in a tournament game on draft day 1972, and Philadelphia took him with the 27th pick. His debut came on August 19, 1974 at Riverfront Stadium: he struck out Dan Driessen, then six straight Reds reached base, ending with a Joe Morgan grand slam. Pete Rose called his fastball sneaky. He finished 86-87 with a 3.89 ERA and 948 strikeouts in 1,586 innings, and reached the postseason three times, each time in a championship series his team lost in a sweep. The Kokomo Tribune named him Howard County's greatest athlete of the 20th century, and he entered the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2010.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 128 | 9 | 69 | 42 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1977 Topps #217 card?
It is card #217 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tom Underwood of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.