1972 Topps #139 Tim McCarver
About Tim McCarver
Tim McCarver's #139, a second-series card, lists him with the Phillies. On June 14, 1972, Philadelphia traded him to the Montreal Expos for John Bateman, and the Expos used him in the outfield as well as behind the plate, his first work at any other position in the majors. He finished with 85 games at catcher and 14 in the outfield, and on October 2 he caught the second of Bill Stoneman's two career no-hitters.
James Timothy McCarver signed with the St. Louis Cardinals out of Memphis in 1959 for a $75,000 bonus, turning down a football scholarship, and debuted that September at 17. A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, he shuttled between St. Louis and the minors for four seasons before taking the catching job for good in 1963. From there he was the everyday catcher on a Cardinals club that won three National League pennants in five seasons: Bob Gibson's preferred battery mate, a World Series winner in 1964 and 1967, and a seven-game loser to Detroit in 1968. He made All-Star teams in 1966 and 1967 and finished runner-up to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the 1967 National League MVP award. Traded to Philadelphia after the 1969 season, he later played for Montreal, St. Louis again and Boston before returning to the Phillies as Steve Carlton's personal catcher, a job that stretched his career into a fourth decade in 1980. He retired with a .271 average, 97 home runs and 645 RBI over 21 seasons, then built a second career in the broadcast booth that outlasted his playing days, calling a then-record 23 World Series and winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 2012. The Cardinals inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2017; he died in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 311 | 10 | 71 | 156 | 43 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 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 #139 card?
It is card #139 of the 787-card 1972 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tim McCarver of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.