1973 Topps #116 Yankees Field Leaders - Ralph Houk / Jim Hegan / Elston Howard / Dick Howser / Jim Turner
On this card: Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan, Elston Howard, Dick Howser, Jim Turner
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 Yankees Field Leaders (Ralph Houk / Jim Hegan / Elston Howard / Dick Howser / Jim Turner)
Houk's Yankees finished fourth in the American League East at 79-76 in 1972. His first-series 1973 Topps #116 listed him with coaches Jim Hegan, Elston Howard, Dick Howser and Jim Turner. Houk resigned after an 8-5 loss to Detroit on September 30, 1973, the final game at Yankee Stadium before its two-year renovation. Yankees catcher Ralph Houk went 3-for-3 with a double in his major league debut on April 26, 1947. He caught Don Johnson in New York's 3-1 victory over Washington at Yankee Stadium.
Hegan finished his run as the Yankees' bullpen coach in 1973, then followed Ralph Houk to Detroit. In New York he had helped mentor catchers Thurman Munson and Rick Dempsey. His first-series 1973 Topps card, #116, lists him with Houk, Elston Howard, Dick Howser and Jim Turner. Cleveland catcher Jim Hegan and Browns quarterback Otto Graham opened Hegan-Graham Appliance on Euclid Avenue. The downtown Cleveland store sold sporting goods, luggage and jewelry as well as appliances.
Howard coached first base for the Yankees in 1973, when Bill Freehan surpassed his .993 major league career fielding-percentage record for catchers. Howard had held the record since 1967. His first-series Topps card, #116, listed him with Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan, Dick Howser and Jim Turner. Elston Howard broke the color line for the New York Yankees in 1955, grew into a Gold Glove catcher, and in 1963 became the first Black player named Most Valuable Player in the American League.
Before the 1973 season, Howser managed the Yankees' Instructional League club. He then returned to his third-base coaching duties in New York. First-series Topps #116 placed him on the Yankees' Field Leaders card with Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan, Elston Howard and Jim Turner. Dick Howser arrived as Kansas City's rookie shortstop and a base-stealing threat, spent later seasons with Cleveland and the Yankees, then managed the Kansas City Royals to the franchise's first World Series title in 1985.
Turner began his professional career with Paris, Tennessee, in the Kitty League in 1923. The Yankees' 1973 yearbook noted that he had completed 50 consecutive years in uniform in 1972; he remained their pitching coach. First-series 1973 Topps #116 grouped him with Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan, Elston Howard and Dick Howser. A 1937 NL ERA leader who reached the majors at 33 after fourteen minor-league seasons, Turner later spent decades as a pitching coach, guiding the Yankees staff through seven championships under Casey Stengel.
Sources: Wikipedia (Ralph Houk) · Wikipedia (Jim Hegan) · Wikipedia (Elston Howard) · Wikipedia (Dick Howser) · Wikipedia (Jim Turner) · SABR BioProject (Ralph Houk) · SABR BioProject (Jim Hegan) · SABR BioProject (Elston Howard) · SABR BioProject (Dick Howser) · Baseball Almanac (Elston Howard) · Baseball Almanac (Dick Howser) · Retrosheet · MLB.com · The Hardball Times · BaseballCardPedia
Print variations
Two states of #116 are tracked individually: 116a - Solid Orange Background (No Trees) and 116b - Orange Background (Trees Visible). The difference is on the front of the card (photo crop).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry and the Trading Card Database; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 116a - Solid Orange Background (No Trees) | |||||||||
| PSA | 137 | 1 | 43 | 64 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 116b - Orange Background (Trees Visible) | |||||||||
| PSA | 210 | 14 | 76 | 86 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation; SGC slabs whose label names no variation are counted under 116a - Solid Orange Background (No Trees).
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Related cards
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #116 card?
It is card #116 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan, Elston Howard, Dick Howser and Jim Turner. 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).
Does 1973 Topps #116 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 116a - Solid Orange Background (No Trees) (All four coaches' portraits have solid orange backgrounds with no trees, including Jim Hegan and Elston Howard at the top) and 116b - Orange Background (Trees Visible) (Trees show in the natural orange backgrounds behind coaches Jim Hegan, Elston Howard and Dick Howser). Owning any one of them fills the #116 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.