1973 Topps #55 Jon Matlack
About Jon Matlack
The Rookie Cup trophy on the front of #55 recognizes his 1972 season. Matlack's 1973 included a skull fracture from a Marty Perez line drive on May 8 and a return 11 days later. He went 14-16 with 205 strikeouts, then held Cincinnati to two hits in NLCS Game 2 and won World Series Game 4.
Jon Matlack was a left-handed starter who pitched 13 seasons, 1971 to 1983, for the Mets and the Rangers. New York took him fourth overall in the 1967 draft out of a Pennsylvania high school, and he won 14 games for Tidewater in 1969 as the Tides took the International League title. He won the 1972 National League Rookie of the Year award, and along with Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman he formed the rotation core of the 1973 pennant winners. He was an All-Star in 1974, 1975 and 1976, and he ranks among the top ten Mets pitchers in wins, complete games, ERA, strikeouts and innings. He spent his last six seasons with Texas, finishing 125-126 with a 3.18 ERA and 1,516 strikeouts. He later worked as a pitching coach for Detroit from 1996 and was named to the Mets Hall of Fame in 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 393 | 10 | 173 | 161 | 23 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #55 card?
It is card #55 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jon Matlack of the New York Mets.
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.