1972 Topps #523 Chuck Dobson
About Chuck Dobson
Dobson went 15-5 with a 3.81 ERA in 30 starts for the 1971 Athletics. Growing calcium deposits in his pitching elbow then brought significant pain. His #523 card, in the fourth series of 1972 Topps, shows him with Oakland. He pitched briefly in the majors in 1973 and 1974.
Charles Thomas Dobson was a 6-foot-4 right-hander born January 10, 1944, in Kansas City, Missouri. He pitched two seasons at the University of Kansas under coach Floyd Temple and was the number one pitcher on the United States team at the 1964 Summer Games in Japan, where baseball was a demonstration sport. The Kansas City Athletics signed him that summer for $25,000. Dobson spent his whole career in the Athletics organization, following the franchise from Kansas City to Oakland, apart from a closing stretch with the California Angels in 1974 and 1975. He won 15, 16 and 15 games from 1969 through 1971; the 16-win 1970 brought five shutouts, tied with Jim Palmer and Gaylord Perry for the major league lead, and 1971 ended with Oakland's first American League West title. Elbow surgery that offseason removed a piece of bone and cost him all of 1972; he finished 74-69 with a 3.78 ERA and 758 strikeouts in nine seasons. In spring 1971 he became the first active major leaguer to admit taking amphetamines on game days, then retracted it under pressure from owner Charlie Finley and the league office. He got sober in 1985, worked more than a decade as an addiction counselor, and died November 30, 2021, in Kansas City at age 77.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 178 | 4 | 36 | 103 | 21 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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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Team card: #454 Oakland A's
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- #96 1971 A.L. Strikeout Leaders
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #523 card?
It is card #523 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chuck Dobson of the Oakland Athletics.
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.