1972 Topps #491 Lou Piniella
About this card
This is one of the sixteen Boyhood Photos cards, in two runs of eight (#341-348 and #491-498); every Boyhood Photos player also has a regular card in the set.
About Lou Piniella
Piniella batted .312 for Kansas City in 1972, with 179 hits and 11 home runs. He drove in 72 runs and stole 7 bases. He played 151 games, 150 of them in the outfield, in his fourth season as a Royal. Topps gave him two cards that year, both with Kansas City: #491 in the fourth-series Boyhood Photos of the Stars subset and his regular #580 from the fifth series.
Lou Piniella signed with Cleveland in 1962 and was drafted away by the Washington Senators that fall, reaching the majors on September 4, 1964 as a 21-year-old pinch hitter for the Baltimore Orioles. Traded back to the Cleveland organization in 1966, he spent three seasons with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League before six late games with the Indians in 1968. The Seattle Pilots took him in that October's expansion draft and dealt him to Kansas City on April 1, 1969, where he became the first batter in Royals history, hit .282, and won American League Rookie of the Year. He made his only All-Star team as a Royal in 1972. Traded to the New York Yankees after 1973, he played eleven seasons in the Bronx and won World Series rings in 1977 and 1978. Nicknamed Sweet Lou for his swing, a name also used ironically for his temper, he last played in 1984 with 1,705 hits over 18 seasons. He later managed the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, Devil Rays and Cubs, won the 1990 World Series with Cincinnati and guided the 2001 Mariners to 116 wins. Veterans Committee balloting has twice left him a single vote short; Seattle put him in the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2014.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 219 | 3 | 65 | 113 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
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
More Lou Piniella in this set: #580
Team card: #617 Kansas City Royals
More Kansas City Royals cards:
- #10 Amos Otis
- #57 Bob Oliver
- #68 Jim York
- #81 Mike Hedlund
- #109 Jerry May
- #133 Joe Keough
- #177 Paul Schaal
- #178 Paul Schaal In Action
- #205 Dick Drago
- #246 Tom Burgmeier
- #273 Bobby Floyd
- #315 Paul Splittorff
- #332 Buck Martinez
- #349 Al Fitzmorris
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #491 card?
It is card #491 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lou Piniella of the Kansas City Royals. This is one of the sixteen Boyhood Photos cards, in two runs of eight (#341-348 and #491-498); every Boyhood Photos player also has a regular card in the set.
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.