1976 Topps #43 Paul Splittorff
About Paul Splittorff
Kansas City won the American League West in 1976 and Splittorff finished 11-8 with a 3.97 ERA in 26 appearances. He earned the win in the ALCS against New York, working 9 1/3 innings, though the Yankees took the series three games to two. In 1975 he was demoted to the bullpen in May, and on July 22 he saved a 3-2 win over Milwaukee, his only career save. Card #43 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 | 162 | 44 | 63 | 42 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1976 Topps #43 card?
It is card #43 of the 660-card 1976 Topps Baseball set, picturing Paul Splittorff of the Kansas City Royals.
How many cards are in the 1976 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and printed in equal quantities as a single series. No card carries a catalogued print variation, so the base set and the master set are the same 660 cards.
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.