1971 Topps #685 Moe Drabowsky
About Moe Drabowsky
Drabowsky went 6-1 with eight saves in 51 games for the 1971 Cardinals, every appearance in relief. Back in the National League, he threw cherry bombs into Chief Noc-A-Homa's teepee in Atlanta. On a road trip to New York he twice gave sportswriter Hal Bock a hotfoot, and National League president Chub Feeney censured him. His #685 is a sixth-series card with the Cardinals.
Myron Walter "Moe" Drabowsky, born July 21, 1935, in Ozanna, Poland, grew up in Connecticut. The Cubs signed him out of Trinity College in 1956 as a bonus baby, by his own account for $75,000, and in 1957 he struck out 170 batters, tied for second in the National League. His elbow gave out in July 1958. Over 17 seasons he pitched for the Cubs, Braves, Reds, Athletics, Orioles, Royals, Cardinals and White Sox and finished 88-105 with a 3.71 ERA. He saved 55 games and struck out 1,162. Baltimore remade him as a reliever, and in the 1966 World Series opener he allowed one hit over 6 2/3 innings and struck out 11 Dodgers, a single-game record for a relief pitcher, six in a row to match Hod Eller's 1919 mark. He won a second ring in 1970. Off the mound he was known as a prankster: snakes in teammates' lockers, bullpen phone pranks, a hotfoot for Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. He was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and died in 2006.
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 | 321 | 0 | 4 | 103 | 142 | 49 | 11 | 12 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 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: #308 St. Louis Cardinals
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- #96 Joe Hague
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #685 card?
It is card #685 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Moe Drabowsky of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Why is #685 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the sixth and last print series, #644-752 - the scarce end of the set. Some of its cards were printed in larger numbers than others, so scarcity varies card by card inside the run.
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.