1969 Topps #398 Tito Francona
About Tito Francona
Francona's lone 1969 card, #398, is a fourth-series issue built on a rebound 1968 in Atlanta: .286 with 99 hits, 47 RBI and 13 doubles over 122 games, his best average in any season since 1961. He would not finish 1969 in Braves flannels - Oakland acquired him that August - and he closed out his career in 1970, splitting the year between the Athletics and the Brewers.
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 | 208 | 2 | 19 | 91 | 55 | 26 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #398 card?
It is card #398 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tito Francona of the Atlanta Braves.
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.