1969 Topps #71 Steve Whitaker
About Steve Whitaker
Selected by Kansas City in the 1968 expansion draft, Whitaker never played for the Royals; he was traded to the Seattle Pilots with John Gelnar for Lou Piniella during spring training 1969, then split the year between Seattle and the minors, batting .250 with six homers in 69 games. Card #71, from the first series, still shows him with Kansas City, ahead of that spring trade.
Stephen Edward Whitaker was a left-handed-hitting outfielder from Tacoma, Washington, signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1962. He debuted in the majors on August 23, 1966, going 1-for-4 in a 1-0 loss to the California Angels. Whitaker got his first extended big-league look in 1967, batting .243 with 11 home runs and 50 RBI in 122 games for the Yankees, but a poor 1968 season set him up to be selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 1968 expansion draft. Before playing a game for Kansas City he was flipped to the Seattle Pilots, along with John Gelnar, in exchange for Lou Piniella during spring training 1969. He split that season between Seattle and the minors, then closed his career in 1970 with the San Francisco Giants after a trade for pitcher Bob Bolin. Over five big-league seasons he hit .230 with 24 home runs. After baseball he became a real estate broker; his son Chad was later drafted by the Cleveland Indians.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 184 | 2 | 12 | 88 | 51 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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.
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Related cards
More Kansas City Royals cards:
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- #49 Royals 1969 Rookie Stars
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- #116 Chuck Harrison
- #137 Wally Bunker
- #159 Jerry Adair
- #211 Galen Cisco
- #239 Bob Taylor
- #258 Jackie Hernandez
- #279 Roger Nelson
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- #352 Paul Schaal
- #376 Royals 1969 Rookie Stars
- #396 Jim Campanis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #71 card?
It is card #71 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Whitaker of the Kansas City Royals.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, 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 2026-10-12.