1973 Topps #179 A's Field Leaders - Dick Williams / Jerry Adair / Vern Hoscheit / Irv Noren / Wes Stock
On this card: Dick Williams, Jerry Adair, Vern Hoscheit, Irv Noren, Wes Stock
About this card
Managers appear only on the 24 Field Leaders cards, one for each club: each pictures the manager with three or four of his coaches, and there is no solo manager card. Fifteen of the 24 come in two printings. Thirteen include a Hall of Famer, among them coaches Ernie Banks (#81 Cubs), Warren Spahn (#449 Indians) and Bill Mazeroski (#517 Pirates), and the Dodgers' Walt Alston and Tom Lasorda (#569).
About A's Field Leaders (Dick Williams / Jerry Adair / Vern Hoscheit / Irv Noren / Wes Stock)
Williams managed Oakland to a 93-62 record in 1972. His second-series 1973 Topps #179 placed him with coaches Jerry Adair, Vern Hoscheit, Irv Noren and Wes Stock. After the 1973 season, the Yankees tried to hire Williams, but American League president Joe Cronin rejected the contract on December 20 because Oakland still held his rights. Dick Williams was a well-traveled utility man turned Hall of Fame manager, driving Boston's 1967 'Impossible Dream' pennant and Oakland's back-to-back World Series titles in 1972-73 on his way to four pennants and 1,571 career managerial wins.
Adair coached under his friend Dick Williams in Oakland in 1972 and 1973. The two had been Orioles teammates, and Williams managed Adair with the Red Sox. Their 1973 Topps #179, from the second series, included fellow coaches Vern Hoscheit, Irv Noren and Wes Stock. Jerry Adair was a sure-handed Orioles infielder who set a major league record for consecutive errorless chances at second base, then played for the White Sox, Red Sox and expansion Royals before coaching three championship Oakland A's teams.
Hoscheit was Oakland's bullpen coach during the 1972 championship season. His SABR biography recounts that in spring training the following year, he umpired both games of a doubleheader in Mesa, Arizona, when no umpires were available, earning $200 from Charlie Finley. Second-series 1973 Topps #179 grouped him with Dick Williams, Jerry Adair, Irv Noren and Wes Stock. Vern Hoscheit's work ranged from minor league managing and league administration to teaching catchers. His major league coaching career included Baltimore, Oakland, California and the New York Mets.
Noren joined Dick Williams' Oakland staff in 1971, and Williams was a fellow Pasadena High School alumnus and former minor league teammate. Second-series 1973 Topps #179 listed Noren with Williams and coaches Jerry Adair, Vern Hoscheit and Wes Stock. Noren stayed on the staff under Alvin Dark after Williams resigned following the 1973 title. Irv Noren was an outfielder for the Senators, Yankees, Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs and Dodgers from 1950 to 1960. A .275 lifetime hitter, he made the 1954 All-Star team, played in three World Series with New York and later coached third base for Oakland.
Stock signed a two-year contract with Oakland to succeed retiring pitching coach Bill Posedel after coaching Milwaukee's pitchers in 1972. In 1973 he worked with Vida Blue on a changeup and a breaking ball. Topps listed Stock on Oakland's second-series manager-and-coaches card, #179. Wes Stock pitched nine big-league seasons, almost entirely in relief, for the Orioles and Kansas City Athletics, then spent decades as a pitching coach, including a stint with Oakland's back-to-back World Series winners of 1973 and 1974.
Sources: Wikipedia (Dick Williams) · Wikipedia (Jerry Adair) · Wikipedia (Vern Hoscheit) · Wikipedia (Irv Noren) · Wikipedia (Wes Stock) · SABR BioProject (Dick Williams) · SABR BioProject (Jerry Adair) · SABR BioProject (Vern Hoscheit) · SABR BioProject (Irv Noren) · SABR BioProject (Wes Stock) · Baseball Almanac (Dick Williams) · Baseball Almanac (Jerry Adair) · Baseball Almanac · Baseball Almanac (Wes Stock) · Retrosheet · BaseballCardPedia
Print variations
Two states of #179 are tracked individually: 179a - Ears Airbrushed Out and 179b - Orange Background (Ears Visible). The difference is on the front of the card (photo crop).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry and the Trading Card Database; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 179a - Ears Airbrushed Out | |||||||||
| PSA | 214 | 6 | 61 | 96 | 35 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 179b - Orange Background (Ears Visible) | |||||||||
| PSA | 124 | 3 | 26 | 63 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 179a - Ears Airbrushed Out.
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Related cards
Team card: #500 Oakland A's
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- #60 Ken Holtzman
- #64 1972 Stolen Base Leaders
- #84 Rollie Fingers
- #155 Sal Bando
- #201 A.L. Playoffs: Hendrick Scores Winning Run
- #203 World Series Game No. 1: Tenace the Menace
- #204 World Series Game No. 2: A's Make It Two Straight
- #206 World Series Game No. 4: Tenace Singles in Ninth
- #207 World Series Game No. 5: Odom Out at Plate
- #209 World Series Game No. 7: Campy Starts Winning Rally
- #210 World Champions (Oakland Athletics)
- #214 Dave Hamilton
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #179 card?
It is card #179 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Williams, Jerry Adair, Vern Hoscheit, Irv Noren and Wes Stock. Managers appear only on the 24 Field Leaders cards, one for each club: each pictures the manager with three or four of his coaches, and there is no solo manager card. Fifteen of the 24 come in two printings. Thirteen include a Hall of Famer, among them coaches Ernie Banks (#81 Cubs), Warren Spahn (#449 Indians) and Bill Mazeroski (#517 Pirates), and the Dodgers' Walt Alston and Tom Lasorda (#569).
Does 1973 Topps #179 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 179a - Ears Airbrushed Out (Coaches Vern Hoscheit's and Irv Noren's left ears are airbrushed out. A third printing - brown coach backgrounds, with a tree visible in Irv Noren's photo - is known but is not one of the two states tracked here) and 179b - Orange Background (Ears Visible) (Coaches Vern Hoscheit's and Irv Noren's left ears are visible, on orange backgrounds with no tree in Noren's photo). Owning any one of them fills the #179 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.