1979 Topps #575 Luis Tiant
About Luis Tiant
Tiant shut out Toronto 5-0 on 2 hits at Fenway Park on October 1, 1978. He struck out 4 and walked none as Boston's win, combined with a Yankees loss, forced the AL East playoff. His 1979 Topps card, #575, still lists him with Boston.
Luis Clemente Tiant Vega, born November 23, 1940 in Marianao, Cuba, was a right-handed pitcher whose 19 big-league seasons ran from 1964 to 1982, most of them with the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. The son of Negro leagues star Luis Tiant Sr., he was pitching in Mexico and Cuba when Cleveland bought his contract in 1961 on the recommendation of former Indians All-Star Bobby Avila. With Fidel Castro's Cuba closed to him, he did not see his parents for 14 years. He debuted on July 19, 1964 with an 11-strikeout, 3-0 shutout of the defending American League champion New York Yankees, beating Whitey Ford. A fractured right shoulder blade and a release by Minnesota nearly finished him in 1971, but he rebuilt his delivery in the minors into the twisting, turn-your-back windup that made El Tiante a Fenway Park institution, winning 20 or more games four times and beating Cincinnati twice in the 1975 World Series. He finished 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA over 3,486 1/3 innings. He struck out 2,416 batters, completed 187 games and threw 49 shutouts. He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. He died October 8, 2024.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 272 | 20 | 154 | 68 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 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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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
- #40 Dennis Eckersley
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #575 card?
It is card #575 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Luis Tiant 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.