1973 Topps #81 Cubs Field Leaders - Whitey Lockman / Hank Aguirre / Ernie Banks / Larry Jansen / Pete Reiser
On this card: Whitey Lockman, Hank Aguirre, Ernie Banks, Larry Jansen, Pete Reiser
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 Cubs Field Leaders (Whitey Lockman / Hank Aguirre / Ernie Banks / Larry Jansen / Pete Reiser)
The Chicago Cubs went 39-26 under Lockman in 1972, climbing from fourth to second in the National League East after his appointment. First-series 1973 Topps #81 shows the Cubs manager with coaches Hank Aguirre, Ernie Banks, Larry Jansen and Pete Reiser. At 18, Giants center fielder Whitey Lockman homered off George Dockins in his first major league at-bat on July 5, 1945. He added a two-run double and drove in four runs against St. Louis at the Polo Grounds.
Topps #81, from the first series, placed Aguirre on the Cubs' Field Leaders card with Whitey Lockman, Ernie Banks, Larry Jansen and Pete Reiser. The Cubs had hired him as bench coach in 1972 to mediate between Leo Durocher, the players and the Chicago press. He remained on the staff after Durocher was fired that July. Cleveland left-hander Hank Aguirre walked 10 batters but threw a 3-hit shutout in his first major league start. He beat Detroit 7-0 in the second game on September 24, 1955.
Banks played his last game on September 26, 1971, after a season of 39 games and a .193 average with 3 home runs. He retired as a player on December 1, with a then-record 277 home runs as a shortstop. In 1972 he coached for the Cubs. First-series #81 in the 1973 Topps set listed him on the Chicago staff with Whitey Lockman, Hank Aguirre, Larry Jansen and Pete Reiser. Ernie Banks, called Mr. Cub, played shortstop and first base during 19 seasons with the Cubs. He won back-to-back NL MVP awards in 1958-59 and hit 512 home runs.
Jansen coached the Cubs' pitchers in 1973 under Whitey Lockman, his former Giants teammate. He had joined Chicago's staff under Leo Durocher in 1972. The first-series Topps #81 manager-and-coaches card grouped Jansen and Lockman with Hank Aguirre, Ernie Banks and Pete Reiser. Larry Jansen won 122 games, made two All-Star teams and earned the victory in Bobby Thomson's 1951 pennant-clinching game. He later coached Giants pitchers Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry.
Leo Durocher, Reiser's first major league manager, brought him onto the Cubs' coaching staff in 1966. Reiser returned for a second stint from 1972 through 1974. First-series 1973 Topps #81 listed him with manager Whitey Lockman and fellow coaches Hank Aguirre, Ernie Banks and Larry Jansen. Pete Reiser, Brooklyn Dodgers center fielder, won the 1941 National League batting title at .343, then lost his edge to a fractured skull against a St. Louis outfield wall in 1942. He later coached the Dodgers, Angels and Cubs.
Sources: Wikipedia (Whitey Lockman) · Wikipedia (Hank Aguirre) · Wikipedia (Ernie Banks) · Wikipedia (Larry Jansen) · Wikipedia (Pete Reiser) · SABR BioProject (Whitey Lockman) · SABR BioProject (Ernie Banks) · SABR BioProject (Larry Jansen) · SABR BioProject (Pete Reiser) · Baseball Almanac (Ernie Banks) · Retrosheet (1) · Retrosheet (2) · Retrosheet (3) · Retrosheet (4) · Retrosheet (5) · MLB.com (1) · MLB.com (2) · BaseballCardPedia · Trading Card Database (1) · Trading Card Database (2)
Print variations
Two states of #81 are tracked individually: 81a - Orange Background (Trees Visible) and 81b - Solid Orange Background. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81a - Orange Background (Trees Visible) | |||||||||
| PSA | 294 | 14 | 123 | 113 | 25 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 81b - Solid Orange Background | |||||||||
| PSA | 127 | 0 | 21 | 59 | 33 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Not designated by SGC | |||||||||
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are listed as not designated, while PSA slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 81a - Orange Background (Trees Visible).
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Related cards
Team card: #464 Chicago Cubs
More Chicago Cubs cards:
- #21 Randy Hundley
- #44 Rick Monday
- #61 1972 Batting Leaders
- #70 Milt Pappas
- #115 Ron Santo
- #139 Carmen Fanzone
- #180 Fergie Jenkins
- #200 Billy Williams
- #262 Jack Aker
- #285 Don Kessinger
- #309 Paul Popovich
- #328 Bill Bonham
- #367 Burt Hooton
- #393 Jose Cardenal
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #81 card?
It is card #81 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Whitey Lockman, Hank Aguirre, Ernie Banks, Larry Jansen and Pete Reiser. 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 #81 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 81a - Orange Background (Trees Visible) (The coaches' portraits have natural orange backgrounds, with trees showing behind Hank Aguirre) and 81b - Solid Orange Background (All four coaches' portraits have solid orange backgrounds, with no trees). Owning any one of them fills the #81 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.