1968 Topps #527 Tito Francona
About Tito Francona
Card #527 in the 1968 set, a sixth-series card, covers a 1967 Francona spent with two clubs: 27 games and a .205 average in Philadelphia before the Phillies sold him to Atlanta, where he hit .248 with 6 home runs and 25 RBI in 82 games. Topps fronts the card with the Braves, the club he finished that season with and played for again in 1968.
John Patsy Francona was nicknamed "Tito" - Italian for "little one" - by his father Carmen, a steel-mill tool grinder. Born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and raised in New Brighton, he debuted on April 17, 1956 with the Baltimore Orioles and played 15 seasons through 1970 as an outfielder and first baseman for nine clubs: the Orioles, White Sox, Tigers, Indians, Cardinals, Phillies, Braves, Athletics and Brewers. His signature year came in 1959 with Cleveland, where he batted .363 in 399 at-bats, ten points better than American League batting champion Harvey Kuenn, but finished 34 at-bats short of qualifying for the title. He led the league with 36 doubles in 1960 and made his only All-Star team in 1961. Francona finished at .272 with 1,395 hits, 125 home runs and 656 RBI, went into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 1978, and served as parks and recreation director in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He died February 13, 2018, at 84. His son Terry managed Boston to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 and later managed Cleveland.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · The Baseball Cube
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 283 | 12 | 57 | 138 | 44 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 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: #221 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #3 National League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #5 National League 1967 Home Run Leaders
- #7 National League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #30 Joe Torre
- #55 Felipe Alou
- #76 Braves 1968 Rookie Stars
- #93 Tony Cloninger
- #110 Hank Aaron
- #134 Pat Jarvis
- #166 Claude Raymond
- #174 Bob Tillman
- #187 Sonny Jackson
- #203 Dick Kelley
- #241 Felix Millan
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #527 card?
It is card #527 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tito Francona of the Atlanta Braves.
Is 1968 Topps #527 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
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.