1973 Topps #269 Tim McCarver
About Tim McCarver
St. Louis got McCarver back from Montreal for Jorge Roque after the 1972 season. In 1973 he played first base in 77 of his 130 games and caught in 11. He hit .266 with 3 home runs and 49 RBI. Card #269, a third-series issue, lists him with the Cardinals.
James Timothy McCarver signed with the St. Louis Cardinals out of Memphis in 1959 for a $75,000 bonus, turning down a football scholarship, and debuted that September at 17. A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, he shuttled between St. Louis and the minors for four seasons before taking the catching job for good in 1963. From there he was the everyday catcher on a Cardinals club that won three National League pennants in five seasons: Bob Gibson's preferred battery mate, a World Series winner in 1964 and 1967, and a seven-game loser to Detroit in 1968. He made All-Star teams in 1966 and 1967 and finished runner-up to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the 1967 National League MVP award. Traded to Philadelphia after the 1969 season, he later played for Montreal, St. Louis again and Boston before returning to the Phillies as Steve Carlton's personal catcher, a job that stretched his career into a fourth decade in 1980. He retired with a .271 average, 97 home runs and 645 RBI over 21 seasons, then built a second career in the broadcast booth that outlasted his playing days, calling a then-record 23 World Series and winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 2012. The Cardinals inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2017; he died in 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 246 | 5 | 65 | 134 | 21 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1973 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #219 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #24 Al Santorini
- #47 Luis Melendez
- #64 1972 Stolen Base Leaders
- #85 Ted Simmons
- #104 Reggie Cleveland
- #128 Ted Sizemore
- #153 Al Hrabosky
- #171 Bernie Carbo
- #190 Bob Gibson
- #241 Dwain Anderson
- #292 Jose Cruz
- #320 Lou Brock
- #364 Rick Wise
- #383 Diego Segui
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #269 card?
It is card #269 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tim McCarver of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.