1973 Topps #296 Reds Field Leaders - Sparky Anderson / Alex Grammas / Ted Kluszewski / George Scherger / Larry Shepard
On this card: Sparky Anderson, Alex Grammas, Ted Kluszewski, George Scherger, Larry Shepard
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 Reds Field Leaders (Sparky Anderson / Alex Grammas / Ted Kluszewski / George Scherger / Larry Shepard)
Card #296, from the third series, shows Anderson first among five Reds staff names, followed by Alex Grammas, Ted Kluszewski, George Scherger and Larry Shepard. Scherger had been the playing manager at Santa Barbara in 1953, where Anderson began his pro career, and Anderson later invited him to coach in Cincinnati. The 1973 Reds won 99 games and the West before losing the NLCS to the Mets, three games to two. Sparky Anderson was the Hall of Fame manager of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine and the 1984 Detroit Tigers. When he retired in 1995, only Connie Mack and John McGraw had won more games as big league managers.
Grammas was Cincinnati's third-base coach when George Foster scored the winning run on Bob Moose's wild pitch in Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS. Third-series 1973 Topps #296 paired him with Sparky Anderson, Ted Kluszewski, George Scherger and Larry Shepard on the Reds' manager-and-coaches card. Alex Grammas, a slick-fielding shortstop for the Cardinals, Redlegs and Cubs from 1954 to 1963, later coached third base for the Big Red Machine, filled in as Pirates manager and ran the Brewers for two seasons.
Cincinnati's batting coach in 1972, Kluszewski also had a steak-house business in the city, a partnership that began in Walnut Hills in 1958. Topps included him on third-series #296 with Sparky Anderson, Alex Grammas, George Scherger and Larry Shepard, the Reds' manager-and-coaches card. Big Klu was a sleeveless, powerfully built Cincinnati slugger who topped the National League in homers and RBI in 1954 and rarely struck out for a power hitter.
After coaching Cincinnati in 1972, Scherger began another season under Sparky Anderson. When new outfielder Richie Scheinblum asked whether Scherger was the hitting coach, Anderson identified him as the fielding coach. Their 1973 Topps #296 also included Alex Grammas, Ted Kluszewski and Larry Shepard. George Scherger's work in baseball included playing second base, managing minor league clubs and coaching Cincinnati. Before those coaching years, he served in the Army and managed championship teams at Newport News and Salisbury.
Larry Shepard, Cincinnati's pitching coach in 1973, had known Sparky Anderson as a rival manager in the International League before Anderson recruited him to the Reds. On third-series Topps #296, Shepard shared the Reds Field Leaders card with Anderson and fellow coaches Alex Grammas, Ted Kluszewski and George Scherger. Larry Shepard spent decades in baseball, managing in the minors for years before reaching the majors and later coaching pitchers for the Cincinnati Reds' Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s.
Sources: Wikipedia (Sparky Anderson) · Wikipedia (Alex Grammas) · Wikipedia (Ted Kluszewski) · Wikipedia (Larry Shepard) · SABR BioProject (Sparky Anderson) · SABR BioProject (Alex Grammas) · SABR BioProject (Ted Kluszewski) · SABR BioProject (George Scherger) · SABR BioProject (Larry Shepard) · Baseball Almanac (Alex Grammas) · Baseball Almanac (Ted Kluszewski) · Retrosheet · BaseballCardPedia · Trading Card Database
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 291 | 4 | 52 | 142 | 49 | 29 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
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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- #89 Jack Billingham
- #130 Pete Rose
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- #177 Bill Plummer
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- #202 N.L. Playoffs: Foster's Run Decides It
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #296 card?
It is card #296 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Sparky Anderson, Alex Grammas, Ted Kluszewski, George Scherger and Larry Shepard. 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).
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.