1973 Topps #65 1972 Earned Run Average Leaders - Steve Carlton / Luis Tiant
On this card: Steve Carlton, Luis Tiant
About this card
Cards #61-68 are the League Leaders subset: the 1972 leaders in batting, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, earned run average, victories and strikeouts, and the leading firemen (#68), each card naming the National League leader first.
The story on this card
Card #65 in the League Leaders subset (#61-68) of the first series carries the 1972 earned run average titles. Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League at 1.97, going 27-10 with 310 strikeouts. He threw 30 complete games and won 27 of the last-place Phillies' 59 victories. Luis Tiant of the Boston Red Sox took the American League at 1.91 over 179 innings, going 15-6. He threw six shutouts in 19 starts. The year before, he had gone 1-7 with a 4.85 ERA. Carlton collected the Cy Young Award for the season.
Phillies left-hander Steve Carlton included martial arts and meditation in his training. One exercise involved twisting his fist down through a five-gallon bucket of rice. He worked with trainer Gus Hoefling on his conditioning routine. Luis Tiant - a Cuban-born right-hander kept from his parents for 14 years by Castro's revolution, he rebuilt his delivery after a fractured shoulder blade, won 229 games over 19 seasons and beat Cincinnati twice in the 1975 World Series.
Sources: Wikipedia (Steve Carlton) · Wikipedia (Luis Tiant) · SABR BioProject · National Baseball Hall of Fame · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 554 | 18 | 163 | 254 | 56 | 35 | 17 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 45 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 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
Team cards: #536 Philadelphia Phillies, #596 Boston Red Sox
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #3 Jim Lonborg
- #6 Mac Scarce
- #37 Bill Robinson
- #66 1972 Victory Leaders
- #67 1972 Strikeout Leaders
- #97 Willie Montanez
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #14 Sonny Siebert
- #40 Reggie Smith
- #69 Phil Gagliano
- #96 Doug Griffin
- #114 Lynn McGlothen
- #131 Red Sox Field Leaders
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #65 card?
It is card #65 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Steve Carlton and Luis Tiant. Cards #61-68 are the League Leaders subset: the 1972 leaders in batting, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, earned run average, victories and strikeouts, and the leading firemen (#68), each card naming the National League leader first.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
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.