1979 Topps #211 Denny Martinez
About Denny Martinez
Martinez beat Mayaguez's Jack Morris in the 1978-79 Puerto Rican league championship game for Caguas. The 1979 season was his heaviest, with 39 starts, 18 complete games and 292 1/3 innings. He went 15-16 with a 3.66 ERA and faced a league-high 1,206 batters. He started Game 3 of the ALCS against California, going 8 1/3 innings, and pitched in the World Series loss to Pittsburgh. Card #211 shows him with Baltimore.
Dennis Martinez, a right-hander from Granada, Nicaragua, was the first Nicaraguan to reach the major leagues and won 245 games over 23 seasons with Baltimore, Montreal, Cleveland, Seattle and Atlanta. Scout Ray Poitevint signed him for the Orioles in 1973, and he won the International League's pitching Triple Crown at Rochester in 1976 before debuting that September. He spent 1976 through mid-1986 in Baltimore. Alcoholism nearly derailed his career; he entered rehab after a 1983 arrest and rebuilt himself with the Expos. He led the National League with a 2.39 ERA in 1991 and, on July 28 of that year, threw the 13th perfect game in major league history against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was an All-Star in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1995, and pitched in the 1995 World Series for Cleveland. He finished 245-193 with a 3.70 ERA. Teammate Ken Singleton gave him the name El Presidente in 1979, and Nicaragua renamed its national stadium for him in 1998.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 189 | 29 | 109 | 34 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 1979 Topps #211 card?
It is card #211 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Denny Martinez of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.