1973 Topps #252 Giants Field Leaders - Charlie Fox / Joe Amalfitano / Andy Gilbert / Don McMahon / John McNamara
On this card: Charlie Fox, Joe Amalfitano, Andy Gilbert, Don McMahon, John McNamara
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 Giants Field Leaders (Charlie Fox / Joe Amalfitano / Andy Gilbert / Don McMahon / John McNamara)
Fox managed San Francisco to an 88-74 record and third place in the National League West in 1973. Second-series 1973 Topps #252 listed him with coaches Joe Amalfitano, Andy Gilbert, Don McMahon and John McNamara, and the card has two catalogued printings. Charlie Fox caught three games for the 1942 New York Giants, then spent decades in the organization as a minor-league manager, scout and coach before managing San Francisco to the 1971 NL West title and later taking charge in Montreal and Chicago.
Joey Amalfitano coached first base for the San Francisco Giants in 1972 and 1973, while John McNamara handled third base. Their second-series 1973 Topps Giants Field Leaders card, #252, also included manager Charlie Fox, Andy Gilbert and pitching coach Don McMahon. Joey Amalfitano was a bonus-baby infielder who spent ten seasons with the Giants, Colt .45s and Cubs, then made a second career in uniform as a coach and manager, including sixteen years coaching third base for the Dodgers.
Andy Gilbert coached for San Francisco in 1973, his second season on Charlie Fox's major league staff. The second-series 1973 Topps Giants Field Leaders card, #252, lists Gilbert with Fox and fellow coaches Joe Amalfitano, Don McMahon and John McNamara. Red Sox outfielder Andy Gilbert caught President Harry Truman's ceremonial first pitch in Washington in 1946 after a scramble. He then had Truman autograph the ball.
McMahon shares card #252, a second-series Giants managers-and-coaches issue, with Charlie Fox, Joe Amalfitano, Andy Gilbert and John McNamara. San Francisco's pitching coach, he was re-signed as a player in late June 1973 because the bullpen was weak. In his first game back, at 43, he retired the six Braves he faced in succession, Hank Aaron among them. He made 22 relief appearances that year, going 4-0 with six saves. A Brooklyn-born relief specialist who worked almost entirely out of the bullpen across 18 seasons and seven teams, never going on the disabled list and winning championships with the 1957 Braves and 1968 Tigers.
McNamara spent 1971 to 1973 as the San Francisco Giants' third-base coach, and in that capacity he shares #252 with Charlie Fox, Joe Amalfitano, Andy Gilbert and Don McMahon, all printed with the Giants. John McNamara managed six big league clubs between 1969 and 1996, winning the 1986 American League pennant with Boston and a 1979 division title with Cincinnati, after years developing Oakland's future stars in the minors.
Sources: Wikipedia (Charlie Fox) · Wikipedia (Andy Gilbert) · Wikipedia (Don McMahon) · Wikipedia (John McNamara) · SABR BioProject (Andy Gilbert) · SABR BioProject (Don Mcmahon) · SABR BioProject (John Mcnamara) · Baseball Almanac (Joe Amalfitano) · Baseball Almanac (Don McMahon) · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet · MLB.com · MiLB.com · Stats Crew (1) · Stats Crew (2) · The Baseball Cube · BaseballCardPedia
Print variations
Two states of #252 are tracked individually: 252a - Pale Brown Background and 252b - Orange Background. The difference is on the front of the card (print color).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 252a - Pale Brown Background | |||||||||
| PSA | 56 | 0 | 11 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 252b - Orange Background | |||||||||
| PSA | 121 | 2 | 27 | 66 | 15 | 4 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 252a - Pale Brown Background.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #252 card?
It is card #252 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Charlie Fox, Joe Amalfitano, Andy Gilbert, Don McMahon and John McNamara. 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 #252 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 252a - Pale Brown Background (The coaches' portraits have pale brown backgrounds) and 252b - Orange Background (The coaches' portraits have single-color orange backgrounds). Owning any one of them fills the #252 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.