1974 Topps #605 Rookie Pitchers - Vic Albury / Ken Frailing / Kevin Kobel / Frank Tanana
On this card: Vic Albury, Ken Frailing, Kevin Kobel, Frank Tanana
About this card
Cards #596-608 are the thirteen four-player Rookie Prospects cards, each titled by position. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #601, #603, #604, #605 and #608 one of the four had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
The story on this card
Topps #605 for 1974 is a Rookie Prospects card that shows Albury with the Twins and also holds Ken Frailing of the White Sox, Kevin Kobel of the Brewers and Frank Tanana of the Angels. Frailing, Kobel and Tanana are the rookies on it, and the card is counted among the key rookie cards of the set. That season Albury completed 4 starts, one of them a shutout, and struck out 85 batters. Vic Albury, a left-hander from Key West, pitched four seasons for the Minnesota Twins from 1973 to 1976, going 18-17 with a 4.11 ERA in 101 games. In 1974 he won 8 games and started 22 times.
Frailing made 16 starts in 55 appearances for the 1974 Cubs. He went 6-9 with a 3.88 ERA, and only Oscar Zamora, a rookie reliever with 56 games, pitched in more for the club. His only major league complete game came May 27, a 12-4 win over the Giants in which he also had three hits. Card #605 is his rookie card and prints him with the White Sox beside Vic Albury (Twins), Kevin Kobel (Brewers) and Frank Tanana (Angels), whose rookie card is among the set's key ones. Left-handed sinkerball pitcher who worked 116 games for the White Sox and Cubs from 1972 to 1976. A Wisconsin high school star who went 13-0 with a 0.17 ERA as a senior, he saw shoulder surgery effectively end his career at 28.
Kobel shares card #605, a Rookie Prospects issue, with Vic Albury of the Twins, Ken Frailing of the White Sox and Frank Tanana of the Angels; it is his rookie card and one of the key rookie cards of the set. His first win came May 12, 1974, against the Yankees in the rain-shortened second game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium. He made 24 of his 34 appearances as a starter and struck out 74 in 169 1/3 innings. Three of his six wins came against the Yankees. Kevin Kobel was a left-handed pitcher who debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers at 19 in 1973, went 6-14 as a 1974 rookie, and pitched for the New York Mets from 1978 to 1980. His career record was 18-34 with a 3.88 ERA.
Tanana's first full season put him in the Angels rotation as Ryan's number two, and an elbow injury produced a seven-game losing streak. After taking his 19th loss on September 22, he beat Minnesota 3-2 when pinch-hitter Doug Howard drove in two runs. He then closed the year with a 2-0 shutout of Oakland. He finished 14-19 with 180 strikeouts. His rookie card is #605, a Rookie Prospects card shared with Vic Albury of the Twins, Ken Frailing of the White Sox and Kevin Kobel of the Brewers. Frank Tanana was a left-hander who began as Nolan Ryan's partner on the California Angels staff and finished his 21 years with the Mets and Yankees in 1993. Shoulder trouble turned him from a hard thrower into a pitcher of slower pitches and deception.
Sources: Wikipedia (Vic Albury) · Wikipedia (Ken Frailing) · Wikipedia (Kevin Kobel) · Wikipedia (Frank Tanana) · SABR BioProject · Retrosheet · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 449 | 5 | 107 | 243 | 45 | 22 | 11 | 15 | 1 |
| SGC | 28 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 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
Team cards: #74 Minnesota Twins, #416 Chicago White Sox, #314 Milwaukee Brewers, #114 California Angels
More Minnesota Twins cards:
More Chicago White Sox cards:
More Milwaukee Brewers cards:
- #12 Dave May
- #27 George Scott
- #51 Bobby Heise
- #75 Jim Colborn
- #99 Brewers Field Leaders
- #124 Bob Coluccio
More California Angels cards:
- #20 Nolan Ryan
- #37 Dave Sells
- #55 Frank Robinson
- #76 Mickey Rivers
- #101 Bobby Valentine
- #139 Aurelio Monteagudo
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1974 Topps #605 card?
It is card #605 of the 660-card 1974 Topps Baseball set, picturing Vic Albury, Ken Frailing, Kevin Kobel and Frank Tanana. Cards #596-608 are the thirteen four-player Rookie Prospects cards, each titled by position. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #601, #603, #604, #605 and #608 one of the four had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
Is 1974 Topps #605 a rookie card?
Yes - #605 is the rookie card of Ken Frailing, Kevin Kobel and Frank Tanana. Vic Albury had already appeared on an earlier Topps card, so it is not his rookie card.
How many cards are in the 1974 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 678 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, issued all at once as a single series and printed in equal quantities; 17 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fourteen San Diego / "Washington Nat'l Lea." pairs (thirteen Padres player cards and the #226 team card), the three-state #599 Rookie Pitchers, the #608 Apodaco misspelling and the #654 Jesus Alou front without a position.
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.