1974 Topps #318 Jim Merritt
About Jim Merritt
Merritt opened 1973 in the Texas bullpen, moved into the rotation in June and finished 5-13 with a 4.05 ERA for a Rangers club that lost 105 games. On August 23 he shut out Cleveland on three hits and credited 25 "Gaylord fastballs"; AL President Joe Cronin fined him the next day for throwing spitters. Topps listed him as a Ranger on 1974 card #318.
Jim Merritt was a tall, lanky left-handed pitcher who spent eleven big-league seasons, mainly with the Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati Reds. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed him out of high school, but the Twins took him in the first-year player draft before his career in the Dodgers' farm system got under way. He worked his way up through Minnesota's minor-league system and debuted in the majors in August 1965, in time to pitch in that fall's World Series. Teammates nicknamed him Bones for his rail-thin 6-foot-3 frame. In 1967 he became one of the better control pitchers in the American League, then peaked with Cincinnati in 1970, making the All-Star team and winning twenty games as the Reds reached the World Series. He spent 1971 and 1972 with the Reds before finishing his career with the Texas Rangers. He finished with an 81-86 record and 932 strikeouts.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 187 | 12 | 94 | 65 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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.
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Related cards
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1974 Topps #318 card?
It is card #318 of the 660-card 1974 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Merritt of the Texas Rangers.
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.