484 - Ernie McAnally

About This Player
Ernie McAnally pitched in four Major League seasons with the Montreal Expos from 1971 to 1974. McAnally was drafted originally by the New York Mets in 1966, but he was selected later by the Expos in the expansion draft in 1968.

McAnally was in the Expos' starting rotation for his four seasons. His rookie season proved to be his finest with career highs in wins (11), innings pitched (177.2), and complete games (8).

In 1975, McAnally's contract was purchased by the Cleveland Indians. He spent the season in the minor leagues before retiring from the game.

About This Card
Just as the Topps cartoon states, McAnally, just like many other Major League Baseball players at the time, had jobs during the off-season.

576 - Montreal Expos TC

About This Team
The Montreal ball club was one of four expansion clubs in 1969 and Major League Baseball's first expansion into Canada.  The Expos would finish the 1973 season with their best record at that time at 4th place in the National League East.

About This Card
The Expos had never finished higher than 5th place in the National League East through their first four seasons.  Rusty Staub, at the time, held all of the Expos batting records.  However, Staub did not have a Topps card issued in 1973 (or 1972).

531 - Ron Woods

About This Player
Ron Woods enjoyed six seasons in the Major Leagues and his final four seasons with the Montreal Expos.  Woods was signed as a minor league free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1961.  He made his big league debut with the Detroit Tigers in 1969 and finished his rookie season with the New York Yankees.  Woods joined the Expos in 1971 in a trade that sent Ron Swoboda to the Yankees.

Woods spent most of his career as a backup outfielder and pinch hitter.  He was most active in 1973 in which he played a career high 135 games, including 77 starts in center field.  Woods played his final Major League game with the Expos in 1974.

Woods went on to play two seasons in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons in 1975 and 1976. 

About This Card
Ron Woods did not have a significant career in the Majors, but Topps chose to highlight his minor league success on the back.

232 - Ken Singleton

About This Player
Ken Singleton enjoyed 15 seasons as a right fielder and designated hitter in the Major Leagues and three of them with the Montreal Expos.  Singleton, a former first round draft pick in 1967 out of Hofstra University, made his big league debut with the New York Mets in 1970.  After two seasons with the Mets, Singleton was traded to the Expos as part of a package that sent Rusty Staub to New York.  Singleton establish himself as a starting right fielder during his three years in Montreal.  Singleton was traded again in 1975 and enjoyed his best years with the Baltimore Orioles.  As an Oriole, Singelton was selected to three All-Star Games, including a start in left field in 1981.  He was also a part of two American League Championship teams in 1979 and 1983 and helped Baltimore to a World Series win in 1983.  In addition, Singleton earned the Roberto Clemente Award in 1982.  Singleton ended his 15 year career in 1984.

Singleton currently works as a commentator and color analyst for the New York Yankees on the YES Network.

About This Card
Singleton's 1973 card describes him as the Expos' second leading hitter and the club leader in runs, hits and doubles from the previous season. Singleton would go on to have an even better season in 1973 with a .302 batting average, 23 home runs and 103 RBI.  He also led the National League with a .425 on base percentage.  Singleton also proved to be a defensive specialist with a league leading 20 assists from the outfield.

331 - Carl Morton

About This Player
Carl Morton spent eight seasons in the big leagues pitching for the Expos and Braves.  Morton was originally drafted by the Braves as an outfielder out of the University of Oklahoma and was converted to a pitcher. 

Morton was selected by the Expos in the 1969 expansion draft, made his Major League debut that year and pitched in eight games that season.  Morton made his mark as a solid starter the next season pitching to a 18-11 record with a 3.60 ERA, 10 complete games, 4 shutouts and earning National League Rookie of the Year honors.  Morton failed to reach those numbers in his following seasons with the Expos and was later traded back to the Braves for Pat Jarvis in 1973.

Morton rebounded in his first three seasons with the Braves and won at least 15 games in three consecutive seasons, including a 17-win season in 1975.  Morton regressed the following year and won only 4 games.  After the end of the 1976 season, he was included by the Braves as part of a trade to acquire Jeff Burroughs from the Rangers.  However, Morton spent the following season in the minors and never returned to the big leagues.

Morton passed away on April 12, 1983 from suffering a heart attack after jogging.

About This Card
Morton is shown in this photo with the Montreal Expos (or Les Expos de Montréal in French) logo clearly on his cap.  In the past, I had wondered what the logo was supposed to be.  According to Expos media guides, the logo is a stylized "M" for "Montreal" containing a red "e" for "Expos" and a blue "b" for "Baseball."

377 - Gene Mauch MGR

About This Manager
Gene Mauch spent 26 seasons as a Major League manager with four different teams. After Mauch ended a nine-year playing career in 1975, he went on to manage the Minneapolis Millers, the Triple-A affiliate in the Red Sox organization.  In 1960, Mauch got his first big league managerial position with the Phillies after taking over for Eddie Sawyer, who resigned from the club after the opening game of the season.  After nine seasons with the Phillies, Mauch went on to become the expansion club Expos' first manager in 1969 and remain there for seven seasons.  Mauch went on to manage the Twins from 1976 to 1980 and the Angels in 1981 and 1982 and again from 1985 to 1987.

Mauch was a strong advocate for "small ball," which emphasized defense, speed and base-to-base tactics rather than power hitting.

Mauch is regarded as the winningest manager to never win a league pennant.  His 1964 Phillies finished in 2nd place in the National League and only one game back from the Cardinals.  His Angels teams in 1982 and 1986 won the American League West, but both lost in the ALCS.

Mauch died August 8, 2005 from lung cancer at 79.

About This Card
In addition to Gene Mauch, this card also features Dave Bristol (former Reds and Brewers who would later manage the Braves and Giants), Larry Doby (the first African-American to play in the American League), Cal McLish (former All-Star pitcher of 15 seasons) and Jerry Zimmerman (former Reds and Twins catcher).

355 - Mike Marshall

About This Player
Mike Marshall pitched in 14 Major League seasons with nine different teams.  Marshall made his big league debut in 1967 with the Tigers.  Marshall established himself as one of baseball's top relievers after he was traded to the Expos for Don Bosch in 1970.  In his four seasons with the Expos, Marshall had a 2.94 ERA and led the National League three times in games finished and one time in saves.  Marshall was traded in 1974 to the Dodgers for Willie Davis and went on to pitch a career year with 2.42 ERA, a league leading 21 saves and current Major League record for games pitched in one season (106), relief innings pitched (208.1) and consecutive games for a pitcher (13) on the way to his first All-Star selection and a Cy Young Award.  Throughout his career, Marshall would lead the league in games pitched four times, games finished five times, saves three times and receive two All-Star selections.

Marshall attended Michigan State University and earned a doctorate in exercise physiology.  Marshall teaches and advocates a pitching method he developed that he believes could completely eradicate all pitching injuries.  After his rookie season, in which his poor delivery caused him shoulder pains, Marshall studied tapes, analyzed himself and adjusted and refined his pitching motion.  He credits this method as the reason for his longevity throughout the season and throughout his career. 

I'm a researcher. People forget that about me. That's where my heart is. I pitched baseball, really, as the lab experiment of my research to see if it worked. Turned out it did. I don't need any more validation that I know something about baseball.  - Mike Marshall

Marshall had also diagnosed Tommy John with a torn ulnar-collateral ligament that led to his surgery and suggested a regimen, which included exercises with an iron ball, strengthened his arm to allow John to pitch another 13 seasons.  Marshall currently runs a pitching academy where he teaching his pitching methods.

For more information about Mike Marshall and his pitching philosophy:
Dr. Mike Marshall's Pitching Coach Services
Oustide Pitch - Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

About This Card
While this card is not Marshall's last Topps card, this is the last card in which he posed for a picture.  The legend is that at one time, Marshall quit posing for pictures for Topps.  Topps, afterwards, had to use in-game action photos for his subsequent cards (with the exception of his 1974 Topps Traded card which used this photograph with an airbrushed Dodgers cap.)  Eventually, Topps quit including Marshall as part of its set.  Marshall last appeared in a Topps set in 1977 even though he continued to pitch through 1981.

592 - John Boccabella

About This Player
John Boccabella enjoyed 12 seasons playing for the Cubs, Expos and Giants.  Boccabella made his first Major League appearance with the Cubs in 1963.  Through his six seasons with the Cubs, Boccabella bounced in and out of the minors and served as a utility man.  Boccabella was selected by the Expos in the expansion draft in 1969 and played primarily a catcher.   His best season came in 1973 in which he caught a career high 117 games.  On July 6 of that season, Boccabella hit two home runs in the 6th inning of the first game of a doubleheader to become the second catcher to hit two home runs in the same inning.  Boccabella was traded to his hometown Giants for pitcher, Don Carrithers prior to the 1974 season and would play his final game that year in San Francisco.

About This Card
John Boccabella in the Expos' baby blue road uniform at Spring Training.

606 - Rookie Outfielders (Gary Matthews / Tom Paciorek / Jorge Roque)

About These Players
Gary Matthews enjoyed 16 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Giants, Braves, Phillies, Cubs and Mariners.  Matthews was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 1973 with the Giants and selected to the All-Star Game in 1979 with the Braves.  His son, Gary Jr., last played in the Major Leagues for the Mets in 2010.

Tom Paciorek enjoyed 18 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Dodgers, Braves, Mariners, White Sox, Mets and Rangers.  His finest season came in the strike-shortened season of 1981 with the Mariners in which he hit .326 with 14 home runs and 66 RBIs and was selected as an All-Star.  His brothers, John and Jim each saw playing time in the Majors very briefly.

Jorge Roque played in 65 games over four Major League seasons.  Roque played for the Cardinals from 1970 through 1972.  He was traded to the Expos prior to the 1973 season for veteran catcher, Tim McCarver.  Roque played his last game in the Majors in 1973.

About This Card
Matthews appears on a Topps first for the first time in the 1973 set.  Paciorek appears for the first time in the 1971 set while Roque appears for the first time in the 1972 set.

254 - Bill Stoneman

About This Player
Bill Stoneman played eight seasons in the Major Leagues with five of them being with the Montreal Expos.  Stoneman started his career with the Cubs, but was one of the original Expos drafted in the expansion draft for the 1969 season and soon established himself as the team's ace.  Stoneman pitched two no-hitters with the Expos: the first against the Phillies in 1969 and the second against the Mets in 1972.  His second no-hitter was the first in Major League Baseball history thrown outside of the United States.

After the end of his playing career, Stoneman worked his way up through the Expos' front office and, eventually, became the team's general manager in 1987.  Stoneman became the general manger for the Angels in 1999 and oversaw that team's only World Series team.  Currently, he serves in a consultant role for the Angels.

About This Card
One of the flavors about most of the Topps vintage sets are the cartoons on the back of the card that add some fun information about the player and the cartoons add flavor to the 1973 Topps set.