1973 Topps #609 Rookie Second Basemen - Larvell Blanks / Pedro Garcia / Dave Lopes
On this card: Larvell Blanks, Pedro Garcia, Dave Lopes
About this card
Cards #601-616 are the sixteen three-player 1973 Rookies cards, each titled by position. A Rookies card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
The story on this card
Blanks spent the first two months of 1973 with Atlanta as a pinch hitter and pinch runner, after the Braves acquired Davey Johnson in November and closed the second base job. He hit .222 in 18 at-bats over 17 games before a late May demotion to Triple-A Richmond. Card #609 in the fifth series is a three-man Rookies card: Blanks with the Braves, Pedro Garcia with the Brewers and Dave Lopes with the Dodgers. It is a high number from the fifth series and a rookie card for all three. Del Rio, Texas infielder nicknamed Sugar Bear, who played 629 games for the Braves, Indians and Rangers from 1972 to 1980. His best years came in Cleveland, and he later played five seasons in Mexico.
Pedro Garcia became Milwaukee's starting second baseman in 1973 after Ron Theobald's departure. He debuted April 6 and recorded his first hit the next day, a three-run homer off Baltimore's Mike Cuellar. On fifth-series high-number #609, Topps grouped him with Atlanta's Larvell Blanks and the Dodgers' Dave Lopes in its Rookie Second Basemen subset. Second baseman from Guayama, Puerto Rico, who played for the Brewers, Tigers and Blue Jays from 1973 to 1977, then in the Mexican League for Poza Rica in 1979 and Mexico City in 1982.
Lopes lost the 1973 spring battle for second base to Lee Lacy, then took the job to stay after Lacy hit .219 over his first 64 at-bats. He hit .388 through May 19 and succeeded on his first 17 steal attempts. He finished at .275 with 36 steals in 52 tries and hit six home runs with 37 RBI, the first coming May 13 off Jim Barr. His rookie card is #609 in the high-number fifth series, a Rookie Second Basemen card shared with Larvell Blanks (Braves) and Pedro Garcia (Brewers). Davey Lopes was the Dodgers' leadoff-hitting second baseman through 1981, a four-time All-Star who led the National League in steals in 1975 and 1976 and won the 1978 Gold Glove. He later coached for six clubs and managed the Brewers from 2000 to 2002.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject (Larvell Blanks) · SABR BioProject (Davey Lopes) · Baseball Almanac (Pedro Garcia) · Retrosheet · Stats Crew (1) · Stats Crew (2) · BaseballCardPedia · Trading Card Database
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 447 | 3 | 39 | 215 | 109 | 46 | 18 | 17 | 0 |
| SGC | 48 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 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 cards: #521 Atlanta Braves, #127 Milwaukee Brewers, #91 Los Angeles Dodgers
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #609 card?
It is card #609 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Larvell Blanks, Pedro Garcia and Dave Lopes. Cards #601-616 are the sixteen three-player 1973 Rookies cards, each titled by position. A Rookies card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
Is 1973 Topps #609 a rookie card?
Yes - #609 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Larvell Blanks, Pedro Garcia and Dave Lopes.
Why is #609 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the fifth and last print series, #529-660 - the scarce end of the set.
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.