1971 Topps #494 Braves Rookie Stars - Ralph Garr / Rick Kester
On this card: Ralph Garr, Rick Kester
About this card
This is one of the 44 Rookie Stars cards in the 1971 Topps set, each carrying two or three players under a club, league or position title. All 44 count as rookie cards.
The story on this card
Garr shared #494 with Rick Kester, a fourth-series Rookie Stars card with both men listed with Atlanta. He came up in September 1970 and hit .302 in 91 plate appearances. Rico Carty's fractured knee then opened left field, and on May 17, 1971 Garr homered off Tom Seaver in the 10th and off Ron Taylor in the 12th for a 4-3 win. He had 219 hits and scored a career-high 101 runs, and he finished second in the league batting race. Ralph Garr, the Road Runner, was an outfielder from Monroe, Louisiana, who played 1,317 games between 1968 and 1980 for the Braves, White Sox and Angels and stole 172 bases.
Kester's last major league game had come on September 27, 1970, so his 1971 Rookie Stars card, #494 in the fourth series, followed the end of his career. It is shared with Ralph Garr, and both men are printed with the Atlanta Braves. Rick Kester, an Iola, Kansas, right-hander, pitched in relief for the Atlanta Braves from 1968 to 1970, working 40 2/3 innings over three seasons and finishing with a 5.98 ERA.
Sources: Wikipedia (Ralph Garr) · Wikipedia (Rick Kester) · SABR BioProject
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 463 | 0 | 20 | 243 | 150 | 33 | 10 | 4 | 3 |
| SGC | 24 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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: #652 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #8 Mike McQueen
- #30 Phil Niekro
- #52 Braves 1971 Rookie Stars
- #62 1970 National League Batting Leaders
- #81 Felix Millan
- #88 Hal King
- #147 Bob Priddy
- #173 Gil Garrido
- #194 Mike Lum
- #223 Cecil Upshaw
- #244 Bob Tillman
- #270 Rico Carty
- #306 Jim Nash
- #346 Lum Harris
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #494 card?
It is card #494 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ralph Garr and Rick Kester. This is one of the 44 Rookie Stars cards in the 1971 Topps set, each carrying two or three players under a club, league or position title. All 44 count as rookie cards.
Is 1971 Topps #494 a rookie card?
Yes - #494 is listed as a rookie card, like every one of the 44 Rookie Stars cards in the 1971 Topps set.
How many cards are in the 1971 Topps Baseball set?
752 cards, tracked as 761 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 752 with none skipped, issued in six print series (132/131/130/130/120/109 cards), the sixth (#644-752) the high numbers; seven cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - the #42, #265 and #306 photo pairs and the #123, #206, #369 and #619 checklists, #369 and #619 in three printings each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA (its price guide, master set registry and set article), 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.