1973 Topps #249 Larry Biittner
About Larry Biittner
The Rangers added slugger Mike Epstein, then traded him to the Angels for Jim Spencer, and Biittner slipped into a utility role, hitting .252 in 83 games. One of his few highlights came May 16, a two-out ninth-inning single on a check swing that beat Kansas City 2-1. He was dealt to Montreal for Pat Jarvis that December. Card #249, from the second series, shows him with Texas.
Larry Biittner was a left-handed-hitting first baseman and outfielder who played 1,217 major league games over 14 seasons, 1970 to 1983, for the Senators/Rangers, Expos, Cubs and Reds, hitting .273 with 29 home runs. A tenth-round pick of the Washington Senators in 1968 out of Buena Vista College, he had been an Iowa high school basketball star and is in the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame. Ted Williams worked with him on hitting in Washington and Texas, then concluded that contact was his strength. Bench and platoon roles shaped much of his career, and pinch hitting became his main job over his last three seasons; on October 5, 1980 he tied the Cubs franchise record with 46 pinch hits. He signed with Cincinnati on January 12, 1981, the first free agent that club signed. After baseball he worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and returned to farm in Pocahontas, Iowa.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 189 | 7 | 64 | 95 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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 #249 card?
It is card #249 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Larry Biittner 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.