1971 Topps #642 Jim Roland
About Jim Roland
A collision with Cleveland's Ray Fosse at home plate on August 11, 1970 tore ligaments in Roland's right knee, and he pitched twice more that year. In 1971 he sat at the far end of the Oakland bullpen bench. Manager Dick Williams used him 31 times, and 26 of those outings were mop-up losses. Roland finished 1-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 45 1/3 innings. His #642 is a fifth-series card with the Athletics.
James Ivan Roland Jr. (1942-2010) was a left-handed pitcher, born in Franklin, North Carolina and raised in Raleigh, where a blazing fastball at Broughton High School brought the scouts around. The Minnesota Twins signed him on his graduation in 1961 for a $50,000 bonus, reported at the time as the largest the Senators/Twins franchise had ever paid a pitcher. A 6-foot-3 southpaw with a hard fastball and a sharp curve, he debuted as a 19-year-old in September 1962. He pitched parts of six seasons for Minnesota (1962-64, 1966-68), his climb stalled by an elbow that gave out in 1963 and by two seasons stuck in Triple-A. Sold to the Oakland Athletics in February 1969, he settled in as a long reliever and mop-up man and had the best season of his career that year. He finished in 1972 with short stints for Oakland, the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, closing a ten-year career at 19-17 with a 3.22 ERA. In all he had nine saves and 272 strikeouts in 216 games. He then returned to North Carolina, represented a sporting-goods company, and was active in his Shelby church until his death from cancer in 2010.
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 | 303 | 2 | 15 | 103 | 138 | 35 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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: #624 Oakland Athletics
More Oakland Athletics cards:
- #20 Reggie Jackson
- #45 Jim Hunter
- #67 1970 American League ERA Leaders
- #84 Marcel Lachemann
- #109 Steve Hovley
- #135 Rick Monday
- #178 Dave Duncan
- #215 Diego Segui
- #238 Chuck Dobson
- #258 Dick Green
- #285 Sal Bando
- #317 Athletics 1971 Rookie Stars
- #338 Gene Tenace
- #356 Bob Locker
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #642 card?
It is card #642 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Roland of the Oakland Athletics.
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.