1964 Topps #129 Amado Samuel
About Amado Samuel
Topps put Samuel on card #129 of the 1964 set, a second-series card, picturing him with the New York Mets, who had bought him from Milwaukee after the 1963 season for $5,000 down and $35,000 more once he made the roster. It is his second and last card of the decade, and it caught him at his one brush with ceremony: on April 17, 1964 he started at shortstop in the first game ever played at Shea Stadium and doubled home two runs off Pittsburgh's Bob Friend for the only lead the Mets held in a 4-3 loss. A midsummer run of 23 straight starts at third and short lifted him to .232 before his last big league hit, off Sandy Koufax in Los Angeles on July 5.
Amado Ruperto Samuel, born December 6, 1938 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, was a right-handed shortstop, second baseman and third baseman who became the first Dominican-born player to primarily man shortstop in the major leagues and the first big leaguer from San Pedro de Macoris. Scout Ted McGrew, the former National League umpire who had recommended Pee Wee Reese to Brooklyn, spotted him at a three-day Milwaukee Braves tryout camp in San Pedro and signed him for a $300 bonus. Samuel worked his way up through the Braves system, starring defensively at Triple-A Louisville before reaching the majors in 1962. He served as a utility infielder for Milwaukee in 1962 and 1963, then was sold to the New York Mets, where he played his final major league season in 1964. Teammates called him Sammy because they had trouble pronouncing Amado. A knee he tore up on a headfirst slide at Triple-A Buffalo in 1964 left him, in his own words, never the same, and his playing career ended in the minors in 1967. He finished at .215 with three home runs and 25 runs batted in over 144 games, then settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he repaired refrigerators at a General Electric plant.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 278 | 2 | 33 | 142 | 69 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. 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 1964 Topps #129 card?
It is card #129 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Amado Samuel of the New York Mets.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-11.