1964 Topps #228 Felix Mantilla
About Felix Mantilla
Card #228, a series-three issue, catches the best season of Mantilla's career. Boston moved him between second base and the outfield, and he answered with a .289 average, 30 home runs in 425 at-bats and 64 RBI, after totaling just 35 homers across his first eight big-league seasons. On May 23 he ended a game against Kansas City with a two-run pinch-hit homer, and the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association named him its Comeback Player of the Year.
Felix Mantilla, called El Gato, the Cat, for his agility, was born July 29, 1934, in Isabela, Puerto Rico, and was playing organized ball there by age nine. He was on the Puerto Rican team that won the 1951 Amateur World Series, signed with the Boston Braves in 1952 for a $400 bonus, and in 1953 joined Hank Aaron and Horace Garner in integrating the Jacksonville Braves of the South Atlantic League, where the three shared a home in a segregated city and were booed for their color. He debuted with Milwaukee on June 21, 1956, and over eleven seasons played every position but pitcher and catcher. He won the 1957 World Series and returned to the Series in 1958. On May 26, 1959, he led off the thirteenth inning by reaching on Don Hoak's throwing error, ending Harvey Haddix's twelve perfect innings, then scored the winning run on Joe Adcock's drive. He finished at .261 with 89 home runs and 330 RBI, helped found the Felix Mantilla Little League in Milwaukee in 1972, and was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame. He died January 10, 2025, at 90.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 248 | 2 | 34 | 119 | 56 | 22 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #579 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #8 1963 American League Batting Leaders
- #10 1963 American League Home Run Leaders
- #12 1963 American League R.B.I. Leaders
- #25 Bill Monbouquette
- #60 Frank Malzone
- #79 Bob Heffner
- #93 Gary Geiger
- #112 Bob Tillman
- #153 Dick Williams
- #170 Dick Radatz
- #182 Sox Sockers
- #186 Roman Mejias
- #210 Carl Yastrzemski
- #248 Johnny Pesky
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #228 card?
It is card #228 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Felix Mantilla of the Boston Red Sox.
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.