1973 Topps #517 Pirates Field Leaders - Bill Virdon / Don Leppert / Bill Mazeroski / Dave Ricketts / Mel Wright
On this card: Bill Virdon, Don Leppert, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Ricketts, Mel Wright
About this card
Managers appear only on the 24 Field Leaders cards, one for each club: each pictures the manager with three or four of his coaches, and there is no solo manager card. Fifteen of the 24 come in two printings. Thirteen include a Hall of Famer, among them coaches Ernie Banks (#81 Cubs), Warren Spahn (#449 Indians) and Bill Mazeroski (#517 Pirates), and the Dodgers' Walt Alston and Tom Lasorda (#569).
About Pirates Field Leaders (Bill Virdon / Don Leppert / Bill Mazeroski / Dave Ricketts / Mel Wright)
Virdon's second season managing Pittsburgh began in 1973 after Roberto Clemente's death. Steve Blass lost his control, Dock Ellis was injured, and Virdon clashed with Ellis and Richie Hebner. He was dismissed with a 67-69 record and replaced by Danny Murtaugh. Fourth-series 1973 Topps #517 grouped him with coaches Don Leppert, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Ricketts and Mel Wright. In Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, Pittsburgh center fielder Bill Virdon's grounder took a bad hop into Tony Kubek's throat. The single put two runners on with nobody out during the Pirates' five-run eighth inning.
Leppert coached first base for Pittsburgh in 1972. Away from baseball, he hunted and fished; his father, he said, was a great outdoorsman, and he had gone along since he was old enough. He is on #517, from the fourth series, the Pirates' manager-and-coaches card shared with Bill Virdon, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Ricketts and Mel Wright. Indianapolis catcher who homered in his first major-league at-bat for the 1961 Pirates, made the 1963 All-Star team with Washington, then spent 18 years coaching in the majors for the Pirates, Blue Jays and Astros.
Bill Virdon envisioned Mazeroski as a utility player for 1972; he played 15 games at second base and 3 at third. Mazeroski went 1 for 2 in the NLCS against Cincinnati, making his last postseason appearance as a pinch hitter for Dock Ellis. He shared fourth-series 1973 Topps #517, the Pirates' manager-and-coaches card, with Virdon, Don Leppert, Dave Ricketts and Mel Wright. Bill Mazeroski was Pittsburgh's slick-fielding second baseman, an eight-time Gold Glove winner who hit the walk-off home run that won the 1960 World Series, and a 2001 Hall of Fame inductee celebrated more for his glove than his bat.
Ricketts was Pittsburgh's bullpen coach in 1972 and remained on the staff in 1973. By 1972 he had met the four-year major league service requirement for pension vesting. Fourth-series Topps #517 listed him with manager Bill Virdon and coaches Don Leppert, Bill Mazeroski and Mel Wright. A switch-hitting reserve catcher for St. Louis and Pittsburgh between 1963 and 1970, Dave Ricketts backed up Tim McCarver on the 1967 world champion Cardinals, then became a longtime bullpen coach for the Pirates and the Cardinals.
Bill Virdon named Wright his pitching coach for 1973, the season Steve Blass's control collapsed: Blass finished with a 9.85 ERA after walking 84 batters in 88 2/3 innings. Pittsburgh went 80-82, third in the National League East, and Virdon was fired on September 7, with Danny Murtaugh taking over. Wright's card is #517 in the fourth series, shared with Virdon and coaches Don Leppert, Bill Mazeroski and Dave Ricketts, all printed with the Pirates. Mel Wright was a right-handed reliever for the Cardinals and Cubs who appeared in 58 major-league games, then coached on Bill Virdon's staffs with the Pirates, Yankees, Astros and Expos until his death in 1983.
Sources: Wikipedia (Bill Virdon) · Wikipedia (Don Leppert) · Wikipedia (Bill Mazeroski) · Wikipedia (Dave Ricketts) · Wikipedia (Mel Wright) · SABR BioProject (Bill Virdon) · SABR BioProject (Don Leppert 2) · SABR BioProject (Bill Mazeroski) · SABR BioProject (Dave Ricketts) · Baseball Almanac (Bill Virdon) · Baseball Almanac (Don Leppert) · Baseball Almanac · Baseball Almanac (Bill Mazeroski) · Retrosheet (1) · Retrosheet (2) · Retrosheet (3) · BaseballCardPedia · Trading Card Database
Print variations
Two states of #517 are tracked individually: 517a - Ear Airbrushed Out and 517b - Ear Visible. The difference is on the front of the card (airbrush).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry and the Trading Card Database; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 517a - Ear Airbrushed Out | |||||||||
| PSA | 194 | 6 | 77 | 78 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 517b - Ear Visible | |||||||||
| PSA | 97 | 2 | 21 | 52 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 517a - Ear Airbrushed Out.
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Related cards
Team card: #26 Pittsburgh Pirates
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #2 Rich Hebner
- #50 Roberto Clemente
- #95 Steve Blass
- #117 Ramon Hernandez
- #141 Bruce Kison
- #163 Vic Davalillo
- #187 Luke Walker
- #225 Al Oliver
- #250 Manny Sanguillen
- #277 Bob Miller
- #303 Nelson Briles
- #333 Gene Clines
- #348 Rennie Stennett
- #363 Jackie Hernandez
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #517 card?
It is card #517 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Virdon, Don Leppert, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Ricketts and Mel Wright. Managers appear only on the 24 Field Leaders cards, one for each club: each pictures the manager with three or four of his coaches, and there is no solo manager card. Fifteen of the 24 come in two printings. Thirteen include a Hall of Famer, among them coaches Ernie Banks (#81 Cubs), Warren Spahn (#449 Indians) and Bill Mazeroski (#517 Pirates), and the Dodgers' Walt Alston and Tom Lasorda (#569).
Does 1973 Topps #517 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 517a - Ear Airbrushed Out (Coach Bill Mazeroski's ear is airbrushed out) and 517b - Ear Visible (Coach Bill Mazeroski's ear is visible beneath his cap). Owning any one of them fills the #517 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.