1973 Topps #242 George Culver
About George Culver
Culver saved 2 games for Houston in 1972. His #242 card, from the second series, still shows him with the Astros, who sold him to the Dodgers on March 26. He went 4-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 28 relief appearances for Los Angeles and finished the year with Philadelphia. Across both clubs he pitched 60 2/3 innings and struck out 30.
George Raymond Culver signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1963 out of Bakersfield College, then reached the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1966. The right-hander spent nine big league seasons with six clubs, working as both a starter and reliever, and threw a no-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 29, 1968. When the Dodgers placed him on waivers in August 1973, teammate Tommy John called it a big reason Los Angeles missed the playoffs that year, citing Culver's role as the team comic who kept the clubhouse loose. Culver closed his playing career in Japan with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 1975, then spent three decades as a minor league manager, pitching coordinator and pitching coach for the Dodgers and Phillies organizations, finishing as a roving pitching coach in 2010. A longtime Bakersfield civic figure, he built the BC Baseball Hot Stove Dinner into a fundraiser that rebuilt Bakersfield College's baseball facilities, and was inducted into the California Community College Athletics Association Hall of Fame in 2012.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 241 | 14 | 83 | 128 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 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: #158 Houston Astros
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #242 card?
It is card #242 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Culver of the Houston Astros.
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.