1965 Topps #437 Chico Cardenas
About Chico Cardenas
Cardenas turns up at #437 in the 1965 Topps set, a series-6 issue, coming off the most durable season of his career. He appeared in 163 games in 1964, more than any other National Leaguer, and started every one of them at shortstop, batting .251 with 32 doubles, nine home runs and 69 RBI -- his best RBI total to that point. That summer brought the first of his All-Star selections, and three more followed while he was still a Red. For a shortstop who came up as a glove, the 1964 workload is the number that holds up.
Leonardo Lazaro Cardenas Alfonso was born December 17, 1938 in Matanzas, Cuba, one of 15 children. He came to the United States in 1956 for a $500 bonus, claiming to be 17 -- the minimum age a major-league team could sign -- when he was 16, and he was among the last Cuban players out before the borders were sealed. Playing for the Havana Sugar Kings in 1959, he was hit by a stray bullet when celebrating fans fired rifles in the grandstand. Cardenas reached Cincinnati on July 25, 1960 and held the Reds' shortstop job for seven seasons, so steady in the field that he was known as Mr. Automatic. Teammates called him Chico, and later Leo. He was a five-time All-Star and won the National League Gold Glove at shortstop in 1965. Traded to Minnesota, he fielded .985 in 1971, the highest mark by an American League shortstop since records began in 1901, and was voted the Twins' most valuable player. He finished with the California Angels, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, batting .257 with 1,725 hits, 118 home runs and 689 RBI over 16 seasons. Cincinnati voted him into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1981.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 358 | 1 | 65 | 195 | 61 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #437 card?
It is card #437 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chico Cardenas of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.