1973 Topps #138 Horacio Pina
About Horacio Pina
Oakland had acquired Pina for first baseman Mike Epstein, yet his #138 still lists the Texas Rangers. He went 6-3 with a 2.76 ERA and eight saves for the Athletics. He then threw 2 innings in the ALCS against Baltimore and 3 in the World Series against the Mets, won by Oakland in seven games. NBC's Series broadcasts focused on the crater his landing foot left in the mound.
Horacio Pina was a lanky Mexican side-arm reliever who pitched 314 major league games between 1968 and 1978, going 23-23 with 38 saves. Born in Matamoros, Coahuila, he picked up baseball at 17 after growing up as a soccer goalie, and a friend in Gomez Palacio hung the nickname El Ejote on him in 1963 when he was tall and very thin. Cleveland bought his contract from Puebla in August 1968, and he later pitched for Washington, Texas, Oakland, the Cubs, the Angels and, briefly, the Phillies. He was the first Mexican player to win a World Series ring, with the 1973 Oakland Athletics. In Mexico he threw a no-hitter in 1975 and a perfect game on July 12, 1978, in a 21-4, 1.94 season that earned a final two-game stint with Philadelphia. He spent twelve winters with the Culiacan Tomateros and entered the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 161 | 3 | 54 | 85 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #138 card?
It is card #138 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Horacio Pina of the Texas Rangers.
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.