1972 Topps #120 Bill Freehan
About Bill Freehan
Freehan caught 105 games for the 1972 Tigers, who won the AL East. He hit .262 with 10 home runs and 56 RBI. Late in the year he fractured his right thumb tagging out Boston's Carl Yastrzemski at the plate, and he sat out the first two games of the ALCS against Oakland, both Detroit losses. He returned for Game 3 with a double and a home run in a 3-0 win. Card #120 is a first-series issue with the Tigers.
Bill Freehan was born November 29, 1941, in Detroit, Michigan. At the University of Michigan he caught and played end and linebacker in football, batting an all-time Big Ten record .585 as a sophomore in 1961 and winning All-America honors as a catcher before signing with his hometown Tigers. He debuted that September and spent his entire 15-year career (1961, 1963-1976) behind the plate for Detroit, making 11 All-Star teams and winning five straight Gold Gloves from 1965 through 1969. He held the major league record for a catcher's career fielding percentage (.9933) until 2002 and the career putouts mark (9,941) into the late 1980s. He was Detroit's catcher for the 1968 championship and finished runner-up in that season's AL MVP voting. Freehan later coached Michigan's baseball team from 1989 to 1995 and instructed Tigers catchers; he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. He died August 19, 2021, at 79, of Alzheimer's disease.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 289 | 11 | 59 | 150 | 41 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #120 card?
It is card #120 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers.
How many cards are in the 1972 Topps Baseball set?
787 cards, tracked as 794 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 787 with none skipped, in six print series (#1-132, #133-263, #264-394, #395-525, #526-656 and #657-787, the high numbers); 7 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - four Chicago Cubs cards with yellow or green under the "C" and "S" of the team name, the #251 and #478 checklists with smaller or larger print on the front, and the #604 checklist with its copyright line aligned right or left.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, 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.