1979 Topps #535 Ellis Valentine
About Ellis Valentine
On April 21 at Wrigley Field, after a forceout at second, Valentine tossed his helmet and was ejected by replacement umpire Steve Fields, then bumped him, drawing a three-game suspension and a $500 fine. On May 27 he drove in six runs against the Cardinals in the opener of a doubleheader and a seventh in the nightcap, a club record for RBIs in a doubleheader. He finished with 21 home runs and a career-high 82 RBIs. Card #535 is an Expos issue.
Ellis Valentine played right field for the Montreal Expos before moving to the Mets, Angels and Rangers. He was the first professional athlete signed out of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, taken by the Expos in the second round of the 1972 draft, and he reached Montreal in September 1975. On May 30, 1980, a pitch from the Cardinals' Roy Thomas cracked his cheekbone in six places; he returned on July 10 with part of a football face mask on his helmet. On May 29, 1981, the Expos dealt him to the Mets for Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman. He later played for the Angels in 1983 and the Rangers in 1985, with a bruised heel keeping him out of the majors all of 1984. He hit .278 with 123 home runs in 894 games. He fought drug and alcohol addiction through his career, entered rehab in Phoenix in September 1986, and became a counselor; in 2014 he founded the nonprofit RAFT Recovery.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 87 | 14 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #606 Montreal Expos / Dick Williams
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- #97 Sam Mejias
- #124 Dan Schatzeder
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- #235 Steve Rogers
- #269 Woodie Fryman
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- #348 Andre Dawson
- #374 Ed Herrmann
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #535 card?
It is card #535 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ellis Valentine of the Montreal Expos.
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.