1973 Topps #458 Jim Mason
About Jim Mason
Out of spring training in 1973, Mason made the Rangers as Toby Harrah's backup, became the starting shortstop in May after Harrah moved to third, and was over .300 as late as June 9. He hit .141 the rest of the way, lost the job in July, and ended at .206 in 93 games. "I wasn't playing and lost interest," he said afterward. His Texas card is #458.
Jim Mason was a left-handed-hitting shortstop who played nine seasons, 1971 to 1979, for the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos. A Mobile, Alabama, native, he was a second-round pick of the Senators in 1968, and manager Ted Williams called him a can't-miss prospect after a strong 1969 spring. Texas sold him to the Yankees for $100,000 in December 1973, and in 1974 he played 152 games at short and hit .250. On July 8 of that year he hit four doubles against his former club, tying a major-league record. The Yankees reached the 1976 World Series, where Mason homered off Pat Zachry in his only plate appearance, the 500th home run in World Series history. Toronto took him in the 1976 expansion draft, and he was traded back to Texas in 1977. He finished with a .203 average, 12 home runs and 114 RBI in 634 games.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 180 | 3 | 71 | 94 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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: #7 Texas Rangers
More Texas Rangers cards:
- #27 Bill Gogolewski
- #58 Mike Paul
- #94 Dick Billings
- #111 Dave Nelson
- #138 Horacio Pina
- #162 Pete Broberg
- #186 Bill Fahey
- #216 Toby Harrah
- #249 Larry Biittner
- #276 Joe Lovitto
- #299 Ted Ford
- #321 Rich Hinton
- #352 Don Stanhouse
- #378 Lenny Randle
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #458 card?
It is card #458 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Mason 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.