1973 Topps #258 Tommy John
About Tommy John
John opened 1973 on April 8 with 7 1/3 scoreless innings against San Diego. On June 18 he gave up eight runs in one inning against the Phillies, two of them earned and the rest following a Ron Cey error. He shut out the Cubs on July 13 and the Phillies on August 24, the first of six straight decisions he won to finish the year. He ended 16-7 with a 3.10 ERA, and his .696 winning percentage led the National League. Second-series #258 lists him with the Dodgers.
Thomas Edward John was a left-handed pitcher born May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and signed by the Cleveland Indians at eighteen in 1961 on the strength of a curveball taught to him by a friend of his father. He debuted for Cleveland in September 1963, then made his name with the Chicago White Sox from 1965 through 1971. He tied for the American League shutout lead with five in 1966, shared it again with six in 1967, and posted a 1.98 ERA in 1968, the year of his first All-Star selection. Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dick Allen after the 1971 season, he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in 1974; the ligament-replacement operation Dr. Frank Jobe performed that year cost him the 1975 season and has been known as Tommy John surgery ever since. He returned to win 20 games in 1977 and pitched in the 1977 and 1978 World Series, then added 21- and 22-win seasons for the New York Yankees. A four-time All-Star, he lost all three World Series he appeared in, and retired in 1989 after a record-tying 26th season with 288 wins, the second most of any pitcher since 1900 outside the Hall of Fame. He died in 2026.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 259 | 8 | 66 | 121 | 36 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 44 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #258 card?
It is card #258 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tommy John of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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.