1973 Topps #143 John Curtis
About John Curtis
Boston gave Curtis 30 starts in 1973, and he went 13-13 with a 3.58 ERA over 221 1/3 innings. He completed 10 games, threw 4 shutouts and struck out 101. Manager Eddie Kasko, who had given him his first big league starts, was fired at the end of that season. His #143 card, from the second print series, shows him in a Red Sox uniform.
John Curtis was a left-handed pitcher who worked 15 major league seasons, 1970 to 1984, for the Red Sox, Cardinals, Giants, Padres and Angels, finishing 89-97 with a 3.96 ERA. Cleveland drafted him in the first round in 1966 and he went to Clemson instead; Boston took him in the first round of the secondary phase in 1968. He debuted on August 13, 1970, and surrendered a grand slam to Ed Kirkpatrick in his third inning of work. He started for Boston and St. Louis, worked mostly in relief for San Francisco, and returned to the rotation with San Diego in 1980, going 10-8 with a 3.51 ERA. California bought his contract on August 31, 1982, and he retired after the 1984 season. He wrote for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and Sports Illustrated after his playing days, and later coached the Long Beach Breakers of the independent Western Baseball League. He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in 1992.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 193 | 3 | 63 | 104 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 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: #596 Boston Red Sox
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- #131 Red Sox Field Leaders
- #165 Luis Aparicio
- #193 Carlton Fisk
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #143 card?
It is card #143 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Curtis of the Boston Red Sox.
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.