1979 Topps #617 Terry Puhl
About Terry Puhl
Puhl played a career-high 157 games for Houston and hit .287 with 30 stolen bases. On June 1 he had three hits, including the game-winning home run, in a 3-2 win over Montreal, the club whose tryout camp he said had given him no chance years earlier. Houston's late-season collapse cost it a first playoff berth. Card #617 lists him with the Astros.
Terry Puhl was a left-handed-hitting outfielder from Melville, Saskatchewan, who spent 14 of his 15 major league seasons with the Houston Astros before finishing with Kansas City in 1991. He had been a pitcher, leading Melville to the 1973 Canadian Midget championship, when Houston signed him and moved him to the outfield, a position he had never played. He hit .280 with 1,361 hits and 217 stolen bases, and his .993 fielding percentage is the best among outfielders in Astros history. In the 1980 NLCS against Philadelphia he hit .526, a playoff record at the time, with 10 hits, after scoring the first run of the one-game playoff that gave Houston its first division title. Hamstring and ankle injuries, including four trips to the disabled list in 1985, cut his playing time in his last seven years. He was named Canadian Baseball player of the year in 1981 and won the first Tip O'Neill Award in 1984. Induction followed into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and the Houston Astros Hall of Fame. He later coached at the University of Houston-Victoria.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 61 | 2 | 39 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #381 Houston Astros / Bill Virdon
More Houston Astros cards:
- #6 1978 Strikeout Leaders
- #14 Rafael Landestoy
- #49 Vern Ruhle
- #68 Joe Niekro
- #107 Jesus Alou
- #130 Bob Watson
- #139 Luis Pujols
- #158 Joe Sambito
- #187 Mark Lemongello
- #203 J.R. Richard
- #232 Jimmy Sexton
- #268 Julio Gonzalez
- #289 Jose Cruz
- #306 Floyd Bannister
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1979 Topps #617 card?
It is card #617 of the 726-card 1979 Topps Baseball set, picturing Terry Puhl 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.