1973 Topps #471 The All-Time Hit Leader - Ty Cobb
About this card
Cards #1 and #471-478 are the All-Time Leaders: #1 All-Time Home Run Leaders pictures Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, and #471-478 each name one all-time record holder - Ty Cobb (hits and batting), Lou Gehrig (grand slams), Hank Aaron (total bases), Babe Ruth (RBI), Walter Johnson (shutouts and strikeouts) and Cy Young (victories).
The story on this card
Topps gave Ty Cobb two cards in the 1973 All-Time Leaders subset, both printed with the Detroit Tigers and both from print series 4. Card #471 is the career hits leader and #475 the career batting average leader. Both marks still stood when the cards were issued: the hits total was passed in 1985, and his career average remained the highest recorded until 2024.
Ty Cobb was the Detroit Tigers' center and right fielder for 22 seasons and the dominant American League hitter of the Deadball Era. He debuted on August 30, 1905, at 18, with a double off Jack Chesbro, and played until 1928, finishing with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1927 and 1928. Detroit won the pennant in 1907, 1908 and 1909 and lost each World Series. Cobb won the 1909 Triple Crown, hit .420 in 1911 to take the MVP award and batted .401 in 1922. He managed the Tigers as a player from 1921 to 1926, finishing second in 1923. He retired with 4,189 hits and a .366 average over 3,035 games. He also stole 892 bases, scored 2,246 runs and is credited with a record 12 batting titles. In 1936 he received 222 of 226 votes on the first Hall of Fame ballot, more than any other player.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 598 | 2 | 41 | 217 | 129 | 78 | 42 | 89 | 0 |
| SGC | 92 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 16 | 19 | 16 | 19 | 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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Related cards
More Ty Cobb in this set: #475 All-Time Leaders
Team card: #191 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #5 Ed Brinkman
- #29 Tony Taylor
- #51 Chuck Seelbach
- #88 Mickey Stanley
- #120 Joe Coleman
- #146 Woodie Fryman
- #168 Jim Northrup
- #218 Aurelio Rodriguez
- #256 Chris Zachary
- #280 Al Kaline
- #304 Duke Sims
- #323 Tigers Field Leaders
- #349 Dick McAuliffe
- #369 Lerrin LaGrow
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #471 card?
It is card #471 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers. Cards #1 and #471-478 are the All-Time Leaders: #1 All-Time Home Run Leaders pictures Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, and #471-478 each name one all-time record holder - Ty Cobb (hits and batting), Lou Gehrig (grand slams), Hank Aaron (total bases), Babe Ruth (RBI), Walter Johnson (shutouts and strikeouts) and Cy Young (victories).
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.