1968 Topps #173 John Boozer
About John Boozer
The second series carries #173, and the season behind it is the one Boozer salvaged. Recalled from San Diego on May 31, 1967, he was battered through four outings until pitching coach Larry Shepard regripped his fastball for movement and worked on his curve. From a June 25 win on six innings of one-run relief against St. Louis, he went 5-4 with a save and a 2.88 ERA the rest of the way - every decision of a 5-4, 4.10 season spread over 28 games and seven starts.
John Morgan Boozer, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound right-hander from Columbia, South Carolina, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies out of Wofford College in July 1958. Three seasons in the low minors led to a breakout 1961 at Double-A Chattanooga, where he went 19-9 with a 2.61 ERA, was picked for the Southern Association All-Star Game and was named the league's Rookie of the Year. He reached the majors on July 22, 1962, and pitched seven seasons for Philadelphia, 1962-1964 and 1966-1969, almost all of it out of the bullpen: 14-16 with a 4.09 ERA, 15 saves and 282 strikeouts in 171 games, 22 of them starts. He is one of only four players in major league history ejected from a game for violating the rule that bars a pitcher from going to his mouth on the mound. Teammates remembered him as one of the game's great flakes, a tobacco chewer who bit grasshoppers in half and ate moths in front of anyone he could turn queasy. He came home to become Lexington County, South Carolina's first recreation director, spending fifteen years building the county's playgrounds and ballfields, and died of Hodgkin's disease in January 1986 at age 47.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 234 | 7 | 70 | 112 | 27 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #477 Philadelphia Phillies
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #1 National League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #7 National League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #9 National League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #11 National League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #17 Dick Hall
- #39 Cookie Rojas
- #59 Don Lock
- #81 Larry Jackson
- #98 Gary Sutherland
- #112 Woody Fryman
- #122 Gene Mauch
- #139 Chris Short
- #190 Bill White
- #217 Turk Farrell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #173 card?
It is card #173 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Boozer of the Philadelphia Phillies.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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 2026-10-12.