1974 Topps #225 Paul Splittorff
About Paul Splittorff
The follow-up to the 20-win year was a 13-19 record with a 4.10 ERA in 36 starts. He gave up 252 hits in 226 innings, worked again on a slider but remained a two-pitch pitcher, and blamed inconsistency and minor injuries. Card #225 is printed with the Royals.
Paul Splittorff was a left-handed starter who spent all 15 of his big-league seasons, 1970 to 1984, with the Kansas City Royals and finished with 166 wins, the most in franchise history. A 25th-round pick in the 1968 draft out of Morningside College, he started the first game in Royals organization history for Corning that summer. He relied on control and changing speeds rather than velocity. In 1973 he won 20 games, the first Royals pitcher to do so. He pitched in four American League Championship Series, three of them lost to the Yankees, and appeared once in the 1980 World Series against the Phillies. His career line was 166-143 with a 3.81 ERA over 2,554 2/3 innings. After retiring he worked as a Royals television color commentator for 24 years, and he was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1987. He died in Blue Springs, Missouri, in 2011.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 144 | 6 | 59 | 69 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 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.
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Team card: #343 Kansas City Royals
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1974 Topps #225 card?
It is card #225 of the 660-card 1974 Topps Baseball set, picturing Paul Splittorff of the Kansas City Royals.
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.