1979 Topps #183 Paul Splittorff
About Paul Splittorff
The Royals and Yankees both missed the postseason in 1979, and Splittorff went 15-17 with a 4.24 ERA in 35 starts. The two teams met again in the 1980 ALCS, which Kansas City swept, with Splittorff starting the deciding third game and receiving a no-decision. Card #183 is printed with the Royals.
Paul Splittorff was a left-handed starter who spent all 15 of his big-league seasons, 1970 to 1984, with the Kansas City Royals and finished with 166 wins, the most in franchise history. A 25th-round pick in the 1968 draft out of Morningside College, he started the first game in Royals organization history for Corning that summer. He relied on control and changing speeds rather than velocity. In 1973 he won 20 games, the first Royals pitcher to do so. He pitched in four American League Championship Series, three of them lost to the Yankees, and appeared once in the 1980 World Series against the Phillies. His career line was 166-143 with a 3.81 ERA over 2,554 2/3 innings. After retiring he worked as a Royals television color commentator for 24 years, and he was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1987. He died in Blue Springs, Missouri, in 2011.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 71 | 1 | 26 | 27 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 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 #183 card?
It is card #183 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Paul Splittorff of the Kansas City Royals.
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.