1971 Topps #254 Cal Koonce
About Cal Koonce
Koonce made 13 appearances for the 1971 Red Sox, one of them a start, and finished 0-1 with a 5.57 ERA. He pitched 21 innings and struck out nine. His last game came on August 8, and the Red Sox released him that month, three months short of his 31st birthday. His Red Sox card, #254, is a second-series issue.
Calvin Lee Koonce, a right-handed pitcher, was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on November 18, 1940, and grew up in Hope Mills. He played baseball and basketball at Campbell College, then a two-year school, where he earned junior college All-American honors in 1961. The Cubs signed him that year, and he reached Chicago in April 1962. Over parts of ten seasons with the Cubs, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox through 1971 he moved from the rotation to the bullpen, finishing 47-49 with a 3.78 ERA and 24 saves in 334 games. He saved 11 games for the 1968 Mets, and in 1969 he worked out of Gil Hodges' bullpen with Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw for the World Series champions. A Campbell man like Gaylord Perry, Koonce admitted while still active that he loaded an occasional pitch with perspiration. He later coached seven seasons at his alma mater, Campbell University, retiring in 1986 as its winningest baseball coach at 174-123 and as Big South Coach of the Year, and he was inducted into the Campbell Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. He scouted for the Texas Rangers, ran the minor league Fayetteville Generals, and died of lymphoma on October 28, 1993, at 52.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 239 | 0 | 6 | 95 | 105 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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: #386 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #9 George Scott
- #31 Eddie Kasko
- #58 Bill Lee
- #61 1970 American League Batting Leaders
- #63 1970 American League RBI Leaders
- #65 1970 American League Home Run Leaders
- #89 Ken Brett
- #114 Billy Conigliaro
- #159 Jarvis Tatum
- #176 Red Sox 1971 Rookie Stars
- #191 Mike Andrews
- #225 Gary Peters
- #287 Mike Fiore
- #302 Phil Gagliano
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #254 card?
It is card #254 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Cal Koonce of the Boston Red Sox.
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.