1978 Topps #704 Rookie Second Basemen - Garth Iorg / Dave Oliver / Sam Perlozzo / Lou Whitaker
On this card: Garth Iorg, Dave Oliver, Sam Perlozzo, Lou Whitaker
About this card
Cards #701-711 are the eleven four-player Rookie Prospects cards. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #702, #707, #708 and #711 one of the four is not a rookie, so those count for the other three only, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
The story on this card
Toronto's 1978 infield included Iorg, who debuted on April 9 and appeared in 19 games, 18 of them at second base. He collected 8 hits in 49 at-bats. Iorg's rookie card in the Rookie Prospects subset, 1978 Topps #704, shared space with Cleveland's Dave Oliver, Minnesota's Sam Perlozzo and Detroit's Lou Whitaker. Garth Iorg played third base and second base for Toronto over 9 major-league seasons. He shared third base with Rance Mulliniks and batted .258 with 633 career hits for the Blue Jays.
Oliver's big-league time came at the end of 1977, when he collected seven hits in 22 at-bats for Cleveland, one of them a triple, and drove in three runs. He drew four walks. His #704 in 1978 Topps is a four-man Rookie Prospects card shared with Garth Iorg (Blue Jays), Sam Perlozzo (Twins) and Lou Whitaker (Tigers). Dave Oliver was a second baseman from Stockton, California, who played seven games for the 1977 Indians, then coached for the Rangers and Red Sox from 1987 to 1996, mostly at third base.
Ten games with the 1977 Twins, in which Perlozzo hit .292, put him on this card. The last was the season finale, when he started in place of Roy Smalley and manager Gene Mauch told him to triple; he did, and Rod Carew followed with a single for his 100th RBI. Card #704 is a Rookie Prospects card shared with Garth Iorg of the Blue Jays, Dave Oliver of the Indians and Lou Whitaker of the Tigers, each man's rookie card and one of the set's key rookie cards. Sam Perlozzo, a second baseman from Cumberland, Maryland, played 12 games for the Twins and Padres, then moved into coaching. He managed the Baltimore Orioles from August 2005 to June 2007 and later coached for the Mariners and Phillies.
Whitaker spent most of 1977 at Double-A Montgomery, batting .280 for the Southern League champions. He went 3-for-5 in his major-league debut at Boston on September 9, then finished his 11-game call-up with a .250 average. His rookie card in the Rookie Prospects subset, 1978 Topps #704, paired the Detroit second baseman with Toronto's Garth Iorg, Cleveland's Dave Oliver and Minnesota's Sam Perlozzo. Detroit second baseman Lou Whitaker arrived at the 1985 All-Star Game without his uniform. He wore a replica jersey with his number drawn on the back and an adjustable cap.
Sources: Wikipedia (Garth Iorg) · Wikipedia (Dave Oliver) · Wikipedia (Sam Perlozzo) · Wikipedia (Lou Whitaker) · SABR BioProject · MLB.com · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 3,675 | 62 | 594 | 1,399 | 663 | 454 | 246 | 257 | 0 |
| SGC | 498 | 2 | 33 | 147 | 144 | 84 | 49 | 36 | 3 |
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: #626 Toronto Blue Jays Team, #689 Cleveland Indians Team, #451 Minnesota Twins Team, #404 Detroit Tigers Team
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More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #11 Rick Manning
- #37 Rick Waits
- #61 Larvell Blanks
- #87 John Lowenstein
- #101 Sid Monge
- #122 Dennis Eckersley
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #27 Geoff Zahn
- #54 Tom Johnson
- #81 Pete Redfern
- #113 Don Carrithers
- #137 Craig Kusick
- #162 Paul Thormodsgard
More Detroit Tigers cards:
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1978 Topps #704 card?
It is card #704 of the 726-card 1978 Topps Baseball set, picturing Garth Iorg, Dave Oliver, Sam Perlozzo and Lou Whitaker. Cards #701-711 are the eleven four-player Rookie Prospects cards. A Rookie Prospects card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #702, #707, #708 and #711 one of the four is not a rookie, so those count for the other three only, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
Is 1978 Topps #704 a rookie card?
Yes - #704 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Garth Iorg, Dave Oliver, Sam Perlozzo and Lou Whitaker.
How many cards are in the 1978 Topps Baseball set?
726 cards, numbered 1 through 726 with none skipped and issued as a single series, and 728 collectible states: #23 Bump Wills comes with or without a black circle, and #374 Jose Morales with or without black stitching over the red laces, so the master set counts both states of each.
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.