1973 Topps #220 Nolan Ryan
About Nolan Ryan
Ryan shares the strikeout League Leaders card, #67, with Philadelphia's Steve Carlton, and second-series #220 is his base card with the Angels. In 1973 he went 21-16 and finished second to Jim Palmer in the Cy Young voting. He threw no-hitters against the Royals on May 15 and the Tigers on July 15, striking out 17 in the Detroit game, a no-hitter record that Max Scherzer later tied. His 383 strikeouts that year beat Sandy Koufax's season record by one.
Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr., born January 31, 1947, in Refugio, Texas, and raised in Alvin, near Houston, was drafted by the Mets in the 12th round in 1965. He pitched a record 27 major league seasons (1966, 1968-1993) for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. He retired with a 324-292 record, a 3.19 ERA and 5,714 strikeouts, the most in major league history. He also holds the career records for walks (2,795) and no-hitters (seven, three more than any other pitcher). He struck out 300 batters in a season a record six times and made eight All-Star teams. Nicknamed "the Ryan Express" and known for a fastball clocked above 100 mph, he helped the 1969 Mets win the World Series before a December 1971 trade sent him to California for Jim Fregosi. He signed with Houston as a free agent before the 1980 season, then finished with Texas, where he threw his sixth and seventh no-hitters at ages 43 and 44. Ryan was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 in his first year of eligibility with 98.8 percent of the vote, and is one of three players to have his number retired by at least three teams.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 7,272 | 6 | 146 | 936 | 1,402 | 1,664 | 1,251 | 1,854 | 13 |
| SGC | 2,549 | 0 | 5 | 94 | 367 | 527 | 639 | 780 | 137 |
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
More Nolan Ryan in this set: #67 League Leaders
Team card: #243 California Angels
More California Angels cards:
- #18 Leroy Stanton
- #36 Steve Barber
- #67 1972 Strikeout Leaders
- #75 Vada Pinson
- #102 Rudy May
- #123 Sandy Alomar
- #154 Jeff Torborg
- #175 Frank Robinson
- #178 Don Rose
- #267 Lloyd Allen
- #279 Mike Strahler
- #289 Bob Oliver
- #301 Billy Grabarkewitz
- #319 Jim Spencer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #220 card?
It is card #220 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Nolan Ryan of the California Angels.
What are the key cards in the 1973 Topps set?
#615 1973 Rookie Third Basemen, which carries Mike Schmidt's rookie card beside Ron Cey and John Hilton, is the headline card of the set. The other key cards are #50 Roberto Clemente and #305 Willie Mays, the last Topps cards of both as active players, #174 Rich Gossage, his rookie card, and #220 Nolan Ryan. The high numbers, #529-660, are the scarce end of the set.
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.