1977 Topps #246 Mike Vail
About Mike Vail
Vail was hitting .200 with no home runs on May 1, 1977. The next day he hit his first homer since September 1975 and put together a 22-game stretch at .417 that raised his average to a season-high .363. A cold August (.159) and September (.191) left him at .262 for the year. His eight home runs were a career high, and he drove in 35 runs in 108 games. Card #246 shows the Mets.
Mike Vail was a right-handed-hitting outfielder from San Francisco who played ten seasons, 1975 to 1984, for the Mets, Indians, Cubs, Reds, Giants, Expos and Dodgers, hitting .279 with 34 home runs in 665 games. The Dodgers drafted him out of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose in 1970; he declined, went to De Anza College, and was taken by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the January 1971 secondary draft. St. Louis sent him to the Mets after 1974, and at Tidewater in 1975 he hit .342 and was named International League Player of the Year. Called up in August, he singled off J. R. Richard in his first major league at-bat and then tied the modern rookie record with a 23-game hitting streak; the ball from the 23rd game is displayed at Cooperstown. His best stretch came with the Cubs, where he hit .317 with 17 home runs in 275 games. As teenagers in the Cardinals system he roomed with the future wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 126 | 19 | 66 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 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 1977 Topps #246 card?
It is card #246 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike Vail of the New York Mets.
How many cards are in the 1977 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and distributed 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.