1973 Topps #178 Don Rose
About Don Rose
The Angels called Rose up from Triple-A Salt Lake City on May 18, 1972, with Andy Messersmith, Clyde Wright, Paul Doyle, Lloyd Allen and Nolan Ryan all injured. He pitched in 16 games that season, four as a starter, and finished 1-4. He allowed nine home runs in 42 2/3 innings and posted a 4.22 ERA. Catcher Jack Hiatt's arrival sent him back to Salt Lake City, where he finished the Triple-A season 8-2 in 14 starts. His rookie card, #178 with the Angels, comes from the second series.
Don Rose was a right-handed pitcher from Covina, California, who appeared in 19 major-league games for the New York Mets, California Angels and San Francisco Giants. He came out of Stanford, where his ERA of 0.41 as a junior led the Pacific Eight, and the Mets took him in the 11th round of the 1968 draft. After minor-league seasons at Memphis, Visalia and Tidewater, he pitched two scoreless innings for New York in September 1971. Just before Christmas that year the Mets sent him to the Angels, with Nolan Ryan, Leroy Stanton and Francisco Estrada, for Jim Fregosi. On May 24, 1972, he homered off Oakland's Diego Segui on the first pitch he faced in the majors and won the game, only the third pitcher to homer on a first major-league pitch. It was the only home run and the only win of his career. The Angels traded him to the Giants in June 1973, and his last major-league game came on April 23, 1974. He returned to Triple-A Phoenix and retired after the 1975 season.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 161 | 2 | 42 | 84 | 17 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #243 California Angels
More California Angels cards:
- #18 Leroy Stanton
- #36 Steve Barber
- #67 1972 Strikeout Leaders
- #75 Vada Pinson
- #102 Rudy May
- #123 Sandy Alomar
- #154 Jeff Torborg
- #175 Frank Robinson
- #220 Nolan Ryan
- #267 Lloyd Allen
- #279 Mike Strahler
- #289 Bob Oliver
- #301 Billy Grabarkewitz
- #319 Jim Spencer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #178 card?
It is card #178 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Rose of the California Angels.
Is 1973 Topps #178 a rookie card?
Yes - #178 is the 1973 Topps rookie card of Don Rose.
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.