1972 Topps #543 Duane Josephson
About Duane Josephson
A two-week hospital stay for pericarditis in the offseason, back home in Cedar Falls, cost Josephson 18 pounds before the 1972 season. He pulled his groin in the third game and missed a couple of weeks, then played first base in 16 games and caught in 6, taking playing time from Danny Cater. A recurrence of the pericarditis put him back in the hospital, and his last game was July 2. He batted .268 in 26 games. His 1972 Topps card is #543, with the Red Sox.
Duane Josephson was a right-handed catcher from New Hampton, Iowa, who played for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox across eight big-league seasons from 1965 to 1972. He attended the State College of Iowa (now Northern Iowa) on a scholarship for baseball, basketball and football, signed with the White Sox in 1964 and worked his way up through Clinton, Lynchburg and Indianapolis. He won Pacific Coast League MVP honors in 1966, hitting .324 and drawing praise for his catching. His best big-league season came in 1968, when he set career highs in games, hits and RBI and was picked for the All-Star Game. The White Sox traded him to Boston in 1971, where he took over as starting catcher and had his best power year. A case of pericarditis, an inflammation around the heart, forced his retirement at age 30 after the 1972 season. He finished with a .258 average, 23 home runs and 164 RBI in 470 games, then returned home to New Hampton, where he died in 1997 at age 54.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 315 | 5 | 97 | 168 | 30 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #328 Boston Red Sox
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #543 card?
It is card #543 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Duane Josephson of the Boston Red Sox.
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.