1973 Topps #474 The All-Time R.B.I. Leader - Babe Ruth
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
By 1973 Hank Aaron was closing on the career home run record, and Topps opened its set with that chase. Card #1, from series 1, is the All-Time Home Run Leaders card, printing Ruth first as a Yankee, then Aaron with the Braves and Willie Mays with the Mets. Ruth's career record stood as the target; Aaron finished the 1973 season at 713. Ruth returns on #474, a series 4 All-Time Leaders card naming him the career RBI leader; Baseball-Reference credits him with 2,214.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland, and sent at age seven to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, where Brother Matthias became his mentor. Jack Dunn signed him to his minor-league Baltimore Orioles in 1914, where teammates calling him "Dunn's babe" gave him his name. Dunn sold him to the Boston Red Sox that July, and over six seasons Ruth became one of the game's premier left-handers, winning 89 games and pitching on three World Series champions (1915, 1916, 1918). Moved into the everyday lineup, he broke the single-season home run record with 29 in 1919. Owner Harry Frazee sold him to the Yankees that December, a deal that fed Boston's 86-year drought and the "Curse of the Bambino." In 15 New York seasons Ruth won seven pennants and four World Series, took the 1923 Most Valuable Player award and the 1924 batting title, and hit 60 home runs for the 1927 Murderers' Row club. He led the American League in home runs twelve times. After a short 1935 turn with the Boston Braves he retired with 714 home runs, a .342 average and a .690 slugging mark, and in 1936 he joined the Hall of Fame's first five electees.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,035 | 0 | 74 | 318 | 212 | 175 | 102 | 147 | 7 |
| SGC | 230 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 46 | 53 | 31 | 75 | 1 |
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 Babe Ruth in this set: #1 All-Time Leaders
Team card: #556 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #1 All-Time Home Run Leaders
- #25 Roy White
- #46 Lindy McDaniel
- #68 1972 Leading Firemen
- #82 Fritz Peterson
- #103 Celerino Sanchez
- #116 Yankees Field Leaders
- #132 Matty Alou
- #142 Thurman Munson
- #172 Steve Kline
- #198 Horace Clarke
- #240 Bobby Murcer
- #265 Gene Michael
- #293 Bernie Allen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #474 card?
It is card #474 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees. 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.