1972 Topps #688 St. Louis Cardinals
Hall of Famers on the 1971 St. Louis Cardinals roster: Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Ted Simmons and Joe Torre.
About this card
This is one of the 24 team cards, one for each club; every club also has a manager card of its own this year. #1 honors the 1971 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Texas Rangers, moved from Washington after the 1971 season, appear for the first time, on the #668 team card.
The story on this card
The St. Louis Cardinals on 1972 Topps #688 won 90 games in 1971 and finished second in the National League East, seven games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, the eventual pennant and World Series champions. Red Schoendienst managed a roster that included Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson, Ted Simmons and Joe Torre, all later Hall of Famers. Torre won the MVP Award, batting .363 with 24 home runs and 137 RBIs. Gibson won a Gold Glove and threw a no-hitter against Pittsburgh on August 14. The club wore new T-shirt style tops that season and kept them until 1992. St. Louis scored 739 runs and drew 1,604,671 fans to Busch Stadium.
Sources: Wikipedia · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 414 | 10 | 112 | 205 | 61 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 25 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1972 Topps #688 card?
It is card #688 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing the St. Louis Cardinals. This is one of the 24 team cards, one for each club; every club also has a manager card of its own this year. #1 honors the 1971 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Texas Rangers, moved from Washington after the 1971 season, appear for the first time, on the #668 team card.
Why is #688 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the sixth and last print series, #657-787 - with the fifth series, the toughest to find, per PSA.
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.