1979 Topps #227 Steve Stone
About Steve Stone
Earl Weaver told Stone he would be a spot starter, and at the All-Star break he stood 6-7 with a 4.40 ERA. He sought advice from Jim Palmer and Mike Flanagan, set fixed routines, quickened his pace between pitches and changed his number from 21 to Sandy Koufax's 32. He lost no more games and finished 11-7 with a 3.77 ERA. In the World Series loss to Pittsburgh he struck out two. Topps assigned his 1979 card, #227, to the White Sox, though he pitched for Baltimore that season.
Steve Stone was a right-handed starter who pitched for the Giants, White Sox, Cubs and Orioles from 1971 to 1981 and finished 107-93 with a 3.97 ERA. Over his first nine seasons he was 78-79. In 1980 he went 25-7 with a 3.23 ERA for Baltimore, led the American League in wins and took the Cy Young Award and The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year award. He worked three scoreless innings in the All-Star Game. At Kent State his catcher was Thurman Munson. He was an unconventional ballplayer who wrote poetry, played chess and ran restaurants, and Chicago newspapers called him the Galloping Gourmet. He deliberately threw many more curveballs in 1980 than before, knowing the strain on his arm; tendinitis followed in 1981, and he retired as a player in June 1982. Broadcasting came straight after: ABC's Monday Night Baseball, then Cubs television on WGN from 1983 to 2004, beside Harry Caray until Caray's death in 1998 and with a break for illness, and the White Sox television booth from 2009.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 67 | 1 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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: #404 Chicago White Sox / Don Kessinger
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- #127 Thad Bosley
- #134 Alan Bannister
- #169 Bill Nahorodny
- #186 Eric Soderholm
- #216 Wilbur Wood
- #242 Pablo Torrealba
- #266 Jim Willoughby
- #275 Junior Moore
- #283 Ken Kravec
- #309 Ralph Garr
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- #351 Wayne Nordhagen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #227 card?
It is card #227 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Stone of the Chicago White 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.