1972 Topps #249 Harry Walker
About this card
Every club has a manager card of its own this year, separate from the 24 team cards, and every one of the 24 manager cards pictures the manager alone. Nine of them are Hall of Famers, and #510 Ted Williams manages the Texas Rangers in their first season after the move from Washington.
About Harry Walker
Harry Walker managed Houston to a 79-83 record in 1971. His Astros manager card is #249, in the second series. The 1972 team was 67-54 when Houston fired him on August 26 and hired Leo Durocher, leaving Walker with his best season in Houston. He finished with 630 managerial wins and 604 losses.
Harry Walker broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1940 and spent 11 seasons in the National League as an outfielder for the Cardinals, Phillies, Cubs and Reds. A left-handed slap hitter, he made two All-Star teams and won the 1947 batting title with the Phillies at .363. The year before, he drove in the Series-winning run for the world champion Cardinals in Game Seven, doubling home Enos Slaughter from first base. He and his older brother Fred are the only brothers in major league history to each win a batting championship. Walker's habit of fussing with his cap between pitches earned him the nickname Harry the Hat. He finished his playing days with a .296 average and 786 hits over 807 games, then managed in the majors, first taking over the Cardinals as a player-manager in 1955 before later piloting the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 362 | 24 | 102 | 187 | 34 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 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: #282 Houston Astros
More Houston Astros cards:
- #20 Don Wilson
- #56 Rich Chiles
- #65 Cesar Cedeno
- #91 1971 N.L. E.R.A. Leaders
- #101 Astros 1972 Rookie Stars
- #132 Joe Morgan
- #155 Larry Dierker
- #202 Scipio Spinks
- #204 Tommy Helms
- #217 Roger Metzger
- #339 Ron Cook
- #355 Bob Watson
- #360 Dave Roberts
- #394 Ken Forsch
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #249 card?
It is card #249 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Harry Walker of the Houston Astros. Every club has a manager card of its own this year, separate from the 24 team cards, and every one of the 24 manager cards pictures the manager alone. Nine of them are Hall of Famers, and #510 Ted Williams manages the Texas Rangers in their first season after the move from Washington.
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.