1964 Topps #121 Pete Runnels
About Pete Runnels
Card #121 lands in the second series of 1964 Topps and is the last Topps card of Runnels' playing days. He wears a Houston Colt .45's uniform at 36, and his 1964 ended in May: he hit .196 in 22 games, played his final big-league game on May 14 and was released five days later. He returned to Boston as a coach the next spring.
James Edward Runnels, born in Lufkin, Texas in 1928, reached the majors with the Washington Senators on July 1, 1951, after they bought his contract for $12,500. A left-handed hitter with a superb batting eye, he drew 844 walks against 627 strikeouts and played all four infield spots over fourteen seasons: 644 games at first base, 642 at second, 463 at shortstop, 49 at third. Ted Williams rebuilt his approach after the Red Sox traded for him in January 1958, and Runnels hit .314 or better in each of his five Boston seasons. He won American League batting titles in 1960 at .320 and 1962 at .326, and lost the 1958 crown to Williams by six points on the final day. A five-time All-Star, he tied a major league record with nine hits in a doubleheader on August 30, 1960. His career closed at .291 with 1,854 hits and a .375 on-base percentage in 1,799 games, the last two seasons spent in Houston. He coached in Boston and managed the Red Sox for the final sixteen games of 1966, then ran a sporting goods store in Pasadena, Texas, and operated Camp Champions in Marble Falls. He entered the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2004, and died in 1991.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 208 | 0 | 16 | 90 | 60 | 25 | 11 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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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Related cards
More Houston Colt .45's cards:
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- #38 Jim Wynn
- #56 Hal Brown
- #109 Rusty Staub
- #142 John Bateman
- #158 Ken Johnson
- #179 Carl Warwick
- #205 Nellie Fox
- #226 Colts 1964 Rookie Stars
- #241 Jim Owens
- #256 Johnny Weekly
- #282 Bob Bruce
- #298 Harry Craft
- #321 Bob Lillis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #121 card?
It is card #121 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Runnels of the Houston Colt .45's.
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.