1979 Topps #187 Mark Lemongello
About Mark Lemongello
Houston traded Lemongello to Toronto before the 1979 season, and he went 1-9 with a 6.29 ERA in 18 games. In his last start, on June 3, he fired a baseball at manager Roy Hartsfield when Hartsfield came to take him out. After a screaming match with Hartsfield in late July, he was sent down to Syracuse and, when told, threw an ashtray at general manager Peter Bavasi, barely missing him. Topps #187 still lists him with Houston.
Mark Lemongello was a right-handed starter for the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays from 1976 to 1979, going 22-38 with a 4.06 ERA. He threw a sinker and slider. Out of Raritan High School in Hazlet, New Jersey, he signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1973. In 1975 he became close friends with Mark Fidrych, a teammate at Triple-A Evansville, and shut out Tidewater on three hits in the Junior World Series opener. Detroit sent him to Houston in a seven-player deal that December, and he won his September 14, 1976, debut in Atlanta, finishing 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA. He went 21-29 over three seasons with Houston before a trade to Toronto, where his major league career ended. He was known for slapping himself in the face after bad innings and for destroying clubhouse equipment after bad games. The Cubs bought his contract in 1980, and his career ended that year at Triple-A Wichita. In 1982 he pleaded no contest to charges over the kidnapping and robbery of his cousins, bowler Mike Lemongello and singer Peter Lemongello, and received seven years of probation. By 1989 he was living in Phoenix and working for Coca-Cola.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 96 | 1 | 13 | 43 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #187 card?
It is card #187 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mark Lemongello of the Houston Astros.
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.