1979 Topps #321 Gaylord Perry
About Gaylord Perry
Perry pitched 260 2/3 innings with a 2.73 ERA for San Diego in 1978 and recorded his 3,000th strikeout in the season's final game. Topps paired him with the Yankees' Ron Guidry on 1979 victory leaders #5; his individual Padres card was #321.
Gaylord Perry became the first pitcher to win Cy Young Awards in both leagues: with Cleveland in 1972, when he went 24-16 with a 1.92 ERA, and with San Diego in 1978, when he finished 21-6. The right-hander pitched 22 major-league seasons for eight clubs, won 20 games five times, struck out 200 batters eight times and made five All-Star teams. He finished with 314 victories, a 3.11 ERA and 3,534 strikeouts. Perry signed with San Francisco in 1958. Teammate Bob Shaw taught him the spitball in 1964, and Perry described his use of it in the 1974 book Me and the Spitter while claiming he had stopped. His cap-touching and other gestures remained part of his pitching routine; his first ejection for doctoring a ball came in 1982. That year Seattle knew him as the Ancient Mariner, and he earned his 300th victory with a complete-game, 7-3 win over the Yankees on May 6. He and his older brother Jim both won Cy Young Awards and more than 200 games. Gaylord was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 on his third ballot.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 384 | 9 | 115 | 151 | 48 | 27 | 16 | 18 | 0 |
| SGC | 30 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 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
More Gaylord Perry in this set: #5 League Leaders
Team card: #479 San Diego Padres / Roger Craig
More San Diego Padres cards:
- #5 1978 Victory Leaders
- #8 1978 Leading Firemen
- #30 Dave Winfield
- #57 Eric Rasmussen
- #116 Ozzie Smith
- #138 Mark Lee
- #164 Mickey Lolich
- #194 Randy Jones
- #247 Tucker Ashford
- #263 Oscar Gamble
- #292 Don Reynolds
- #342 Dave Roberts
- #364 Gene Richards
- #390 Rollie Fingers
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #321 card?
It is card #321 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gaylord Perry of the San Diego Padres.
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.