1965 Topps #69 Bill Virdon
About Bill Virdon
The goodbye season went well: .279 across 135 games with 22 doubles, his best full-year mark since 1956. Virdon had told the club in advance that 1965 would be his last, took an unconditional release that November, and went into managing rather than hang on as a player. Number 69 comes from the first series of the 1965 Topps set, and it closes out his run in the decade's Topps sets.
William Charles Virdon grew up in West Plains, Missouri, and signed with the Yankees for an $1,800 bonus after a tryout camp in Branson. Stuck behind Mickey Mantle, he was traded to St. Louis in the spring of 1954 in the deal that sent Enos Slaughter to New York, and in 1955 he hit .281 with 17 home runs and was named National League Rookie of the Year. A slow start the next spring cost him that job: the Cardinals sent him to Pittsburgh in May 1956 for Bobby Del Greco and Dick Littlefield, and he batted .334 the rest of the way to finish second to Hank Aaron in the batting race. Broadcaster Bob Prince called him Quail because his soft hits dipped in front of the outfielders like a dying quail. Ten durable seasons in the deep pastures of Forbes Field followed, with a Gold Glove in 1962 and a leading role in the 1960 World Series, where his bad-hop grounder off Tony Kubek opened Pittsburgh's five-run eighth inning in Game Seven. He left the field after 1965 with 1,596 hits and a .267 average, then managed the Pirates, Yankees, Astros and Expos, twice taking Manager of the Year honors from The Sporting News. The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 1983.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 271 | 3 | 49 | 117 | 51 | 30 | 9 | 12 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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- #143 Pirates 1965 Rookie Stars
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #69 card?
It is card #69 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Virdon of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.