133 - Dave Roberts

About This Player
Dave Roberts played in 10 Major League seasons and six with the San Diego Padres.  Roberts was also one of four players named "Dave Roberts" and one of two who played in 1973.

Roberts began his professional career as a phenom with high expectations placed upon him becoming the sixth player since the amateur draft was instated to go straight to the Majors without spending time in the minor leagues.  He was drafted out of the University of Oregon as the first pick overall in the June 1972 amateur draft.  He was signed to a big league contract later that month and made his debut that day entering in the 12th inning of second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Roberts spent most of the season at 3rd base, but was moved to 2nd when the Padres promoted Dave Hilton that September.

Roberts would begin 1973 as 2nd base, but was demoted to the minors after struggling in April.  After hitting successfully for the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders, Roberts was promoted back to the Majors and took over the starting third base position from a struggling Hilton.  Roberts posted his most successful numbers in 1973 hitting .286 with 21 home runs and 64 RBI.

However, Roberts would start to struggle the following year and the Padres would continue to have trouble finding their regular third baseman.  Roberts would lose the starting role to and win it again from Dave Hilton in 1974. He would also be replaced by Mike Ivie, a converted catcher, and win the job again in 1975.  Roberts would spend the entire 1976 season at Triple-A and return the following year as the Padres' backup catcher. 

As Roberts struggled offensively, he would expand his defensive flexibility by playing at other positions and, thus, extending his playing career.  Roberts would play his first games in the outfield in 1978.  He was traded to the Rangers and spend the next two seasons as their utility player.  Roberts would later play one season each with the Astros and Phillies before ending his career.

Roberts was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

About This Card
In his first Topps card, Dave Roberts is celebrated with the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup.  Considering the excitement surrounding rookies in today's sport card market, I wonder how much fan fare Dave Roberts received as a first overall pick entering the Majors immediately.

57 - Derrel Thomas

About This Player
Derrel Thomas enjoyed 15 seasons with seven different teams.  Thomas was selected by the Houston Astros with the first overall pick in the 1969 draft.  He made his big league debut in 1971 playing in only five games that year.  Thomas was traded the following season to the San Diego Padres with whom he played four seasons.  Thomas also spent time with the Giants, Dodgers, Expos, Angels and Phillies.  Throughout his Major League career, Thomas had played at every position except pitcher.

Thomas continues to remain active in baseball through coaching.  Starting in 2009, Thomas joined the Los Angeles Dodgers organization serving as a representative of the Dodgers Legend Bureau.

About This Card
The card back bears a wax stain, which was common for Topps cards before 1992.

340 - Nate Colbert

About This Player
Nate Colbert enjoyed ten years in the Major Leagues and six of them with the San Diego Padres.  Colbert made his big league debut with the Houston Astros in 1966.  He played very briefly in 1966 and 1968.  However, Colbert established himself as a Major League starter after he was selected by the Padres in the expansion draft and named the starting first baseman.  Colbert responded with five seasons with more than 20 home runs, four seasons with more than 80 RBI and three All-Star selections.  Colbert still holds the Padres club record for home runs with 163.

Colbert's finest day came on August 1, 1972 in which he five home runs and drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.  Colbert tied Stan Musial's record for home runs in a doubleheader, but broke Musial's previous record of 11 RBI.  Coincidentally, Colbert was in the stands with his dad during the doubleheader in which Musial set that record on May 2, 1954.

For more information:
Nate Colbert's Incredible Day

After the 1974 season, Colbert was traded to the Detroit Tigers.  He would eventually play for the Montreal Expos and the Oakland A's before back problems forced his retirement at age 30.

About This Card
Starting from the Padres' inaugural season, Nate Colbert had been the face of the franchise and this photograph shows that clearly.  After being traded in 1974, the franchise spotlight fell to future Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield.

294 - Steve Arlin

About This Player
Steve Arlin enjoyed a brief six-year career in the Major Leagues.  Arlin was drafted by the Phillies, but was selected by the Padres in the 1969 expansion draft.  Arlin made his big league debut in 1969 and became a regular in the pitching rotation in 1971.  Despite respectable ERAs in 1971 and 1972, Arlin led the National Leagues in losses in both seasons.  He also led in walks and wild pitches in 1972.  His performance in 1972 was even more curious considering that Arlin pitched a one-hitter, three two-hitters and a 10-inning performance in which he allowed only one hit.  Arlin was traded to the Indians in the middle of the 1974 season and finished his career there.

About This Card
As the cartoon states, Arlin practiced dentistry during this career.  After his baseball retirement, Arlin became a dentist.

159 - Clarence Gaston

About This Player
Cito Gaston enjoyed 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and six of them with the San Diego Padres.  Gaston made his big league debut with the Braves in 1967 and played in nine games that season.  Gaston was later selected by the Padres in the expansion draft in 1969.  His finest season came in 1970 in which Gaston hit .318 with 29 home runs, 93 RBI and was selected to the All-Star Game.  Gaston never matched those offensive numbers throughout the rest of his playing career.  Gaston was traded to the Braves for Danny Frisella in 1975.  His contract would be purchased by the Pirates in September 1978 with whom he would play his final two games.

Gaston is better known for his success as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.  Gaston joined the Blue Jays organization as their hitting coach in 1982.  He took over as manager in 1989 and led his team to a division championship.  Gaston would lead the Blue Jays to another AL East crown in 1991.  With the financial success of the Skydome at the time and the signing of key free agents, Gaston led the Blue Jays to World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.

The team's success decline in the following years, Gaston was fired in 1997.  Gaston returned to the Blue Jays has a hitting coach from 1999 through 2001.  In 2002, Gaston was hired in an excutive position in the Blue Jays front office.  He managed the team again in 2008 and retired from managing in 2010. 

About This Card
The baseball cards from Cito's playing career are all scribed as "Clarence."  His manager cards all read as "Cito."

Gaston is also shown here before sporting his signature mustache.

Interesting cartoon on the back states that Gaston his .317 in May 1971.  Considering that he ended the season with a .228 batting average, his hitting must have been horrid for the rest of those months.

542 - Pat Corrales

About This Player
Pat Corrales spent nine seasons as a backup catcher.  Corrales made his Major League debut with the Phillies in 1964.  After another season with the Phillies and one with the Cardinals, Corrales spent the majority of his career with the Reds backing up Johnny Bench.  He played in two games for the Reds in 1972 before being traded for another backup catcher, Bob Barton, to the Padres.  Corrales closed his playing career with the Padres in 1973.

Corrales later spent another nine seasons as a Major League manager for the Rangers, Phillies and Indians.  Corrales is the first Major League manager of Mexican-American decent and also the only manger to be fired from a team in first place.  He was fired from the first-place Phillies in 1983 and, 13 days later, managed the last-place Indians.

About This Card
The photograph on this card shows game action that took place on June 14, 1972.  In the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Cubs #31, Fergie Jenkins, attempts to score when he is called out after, what appears to have been, a mighty collision at home plate.  This game was Corrales' second with the Padres and Jenkins would earn the win in a 12-9 Cubs victory.

112 - Gary Ross

About This Player
Gary Ross enjoyed ten big league seasons and six of them with the San Diego Padres.  Ross was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and made his Major League debut in 1968.  Ross was traded, along with Joe Niekro, in the middle of the 1969 season to the Padres for Dick Selma.  Ross enjoyed his finest season in 1972 in which he pitched in 60 games (ranking 4th in the National League) with a 4-3 record, 3 saves and a 2.45 ERA.  Ross was traded in the last month of the 1975 season to the Angels for Bobby Valentine.

About This Card
This card shows the standard portrait shot.

655 - Clay Kirby

About This Player
Clay Kirby played eight seasons in the Major Leagues and his first five as a member of the San Diego Padres. One of the original pitchers in the Padres inaugural season in 1969, Kirby led the National League in losses that year.  Kirby would later pitch on Opening Day in 1972 and 1973 for the Padres.  Trades would later send Kirby to the Reds in 1974 and again to the Expos in 1976.

Kirby died from a heart attack in 1991 at the age of 43.

A tribute to Clay Kirby can be found from the Centre View Southern Edition newspaper.

About This Card
The Clay Kirby card is one of a number of high series cards.  The high series cards (numbers 528 through 660) were printed in lower production numbers than the rest of the set and command a premium, especially to set collectors.

As I go back through the years of building Topps set, the high numbered cards, in relation to the rest of the set, will be a consideration in how I would be looking for cards to build each set.  1973 was the last year Topps issued their cards in multiple series (until 1993).