1979 Topps #40 Dennis Eckersley
About Dennis Eckersley
#40 shows Eckersley in Boston colors. In 1979 he went 17-10 with a 2.99 ERA and 17 complete games. From July 11 to August 14 he won eight straight games, the first seven of them complete games. A sore arm then held him to one more win; he blamed the 246 2/3 innings he had thrown, and said the arm had hurt like that only once before, early in his Cleveland years.
Dennis Eckersley won 197 games and saved 390 over 24 seasons, 1975 to 1998, and was the first pitcher with both a 20-win season and a 50-save season. He started for his first 12 seasons, with Cleveland, Boston and the Chicago Cubs, who got him from the Red Sox for Bill Buckner on May 25, 1984, and reached their first postseason since 1945. After a 6-11 season in 1986 he checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholism, and he has been sober since January 1987. The Cubs traded him to Oakland on April 3, 1987, and Tony La Russa made him the closer when Jay Howell was hurt. He led the league with 45 saves in 1988 and saved all four games of the ALCS sweep of Boston, then gave up Kirk Gibson's World Series home run. In 1990 he walked four batters in 73 1/3 innings and posted a 0.61 ERA, and in 1992 he won the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards with 51 saves. He closed for St. Louis in 1996 and 1997, set up for Boston in 1998 and retired having appeared in more games, 1,071, than any pitcher before him. He borrowed his high leg kick from Juan Marichal and entered the Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 616 | 1 | 30 | 183 | 162 | 106 | 73 | 61 | 0 |
| SGC | 65 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 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 card: #214 Boston Red Sox / Don Zimmer
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #2 1978 Home Run Leaders
- #3 1978 RBI Leaders
- #12 Dick Drago
- #63 Jack Brohamer
- #83 Fred Kendall
- #106 Frank Duffy
- #125 Rick Burleson
- #155 Dwight Evans
- #185 Mike Torrez
- #270 Butch Hobson
- #320 Carl Yastrzemski
- #349 Jim Wright
- #375 Bill Campbell
- #400 Jim Rice
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #40 card?
It is card #40 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dennis Eckersley of the Boston Red Sox.
How many cards are in the 1979 Topps Baseball set?
726 cards, numbered 1 through 726 with none skipped and issued as a single series, tracked as 727 collectible states: #369 Bump Wills comes with a Rangers or a Blue Jays team banner, and the master set counts both.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA, 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.