1971 Topps #628 John Bateman
About John Bateman
At 208 pounds in 1970 spring camp, Bateman was fined $800, $100 for each excess pound. He then got down to 198. On July 2 he hit the first grand slam of his career and drove in seven runs, an Expos single-game record at the time. He finished at .237 with 123 hits. On November 6 manager Gene Mauch saw him on television accompanying Quebec police on a raid on a paramilitary cell. His #628 is a fifth-series card with the Expos.
John Alvin Bateman was a right-handed-hitting catcher, born July 21, 1940, at Fort Sill, the Army post at Lawton, Oklahoma, and raised by his aunt Jewel and her husband, Raymond Priest. After a letter-writing campaign to big-league clubs won him a tryout, Houston signed him in March 1962 and sent him to their Class C Modesto affiliate, where he hit .280 with 21 home runs. He had shaved two years off his age to sign, and rosters listed his birth year as 1942 for the rest of his career. General manager Paul Richards compared his throwing arm to that of Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett, and he was in Houston by 1963. Weight, injuries and a free swing kept the catching job moving between him, Jerry Grote and Ron Brand, with two demotions to Oklahoma City along the way. His best year was 1966: .279 with 17 home runs and 70 RBIs. Montreal took him in the 1968 expansion draft, and he caught Bill Stoneman's no-hitter in the club's first season. Traded to Philadelphia for Tim McCarver in June 1972, he caught the rest of Steve Carlton's Cy Young season; the Phillies released him in January 1973. He finished at .230 with 81 homers and 375 RBIs over ten seasons, and died in Oklahoma in 1996.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · The Hardball Times · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 267 | 0 | 9 | 106 | 120 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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: #674 Montreal Expos
More Montreal Expos cards:
- #21 Dan McGinn
- #42 Boots Day
- #59 Gene Mauch
- #94 Don Hahn
- #132 Jose Laboy
- #142 Mack Jones
- #157 Bob Bailey
- #171 Bobby Wine
- #209 Steve Renko
- #232 John Strohmayer
- #266 Bill Stoneman
- #284 Jim Gosger
- #304 Ron Brand
- #315 Ron Fairly
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #628 card?
It is card #628 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Bateman of the Montreal Expos.
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.