1965 Topps #554 Chico Ruiz
About Chico Ruiz
Card #554 carries Ruiz's 1964 rookie line with Cincinnati: a .244 average, 2 home runs, 16 RBI and 11 steals across 77 games, and more of that field work came at third base (49 games) than at second (30). It is his first solo Topps card, and the first of his cards to appear after the steal of home in Philadelphia that made his name. The number lands in the seventh series, a true high number, and TCDB, Cardsmiths and BaseballCardPedia all tag it among the short prints scattered through that closing run.
Chico Ruiz was born Giraldo Sablon Ruiz on December 5, 1938, in Santo Domingo, Cuba, where his father ran a cigar factory. American paperwork rendered the first name Hiraldo after his father's Spanish pronunciation was misheard at immigration, and "Chico" was a generic Spanish "buddy" pinned on him by Americans. He signed with Cincinnati in 1958 through the Cuban pipeline that ran between Reds general manager Gabe Paul and Bobby Maduro of the Havana Sugar Kings, spent six seasons in the farm system, and led his league in stolen bases five years running, from 61 for Visalia in 1959 through 50 for San Diego in 1963. A switch-hitting utility infielder who played mainly second base and third, Ruiz debuted April 13, 1964, and hit .240 with 34 steals over 565 games for Cincinnati (1964-1969) and California (1970-1971). His signature moment came September 21, 1964, when he stole home off Art Mahaffey with Frank Robinson batting, the only run of a 1-0 win that touched off the Phillies' ten-game collapse. He died in a single-car crash near his San Diego home on February 9, 1972, at 33.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 250 | 1 | 20 | 110 | 74 | 29 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #316 Cincinnati Reds
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- #47 Tommy Harper
- #60 Jim O'Toole
- #75 Deron Johnson
- #102 Steve Boros
- #120 Frank Robinson
- #141 Charlie James
- #158 Dick Sisler
- #174 Joe Jay
- #192 Jim Coker
- #207 Pete Rose
- #221 John Tsitouris
- #243 Reds 1965 Rookie Stars
- #263 Marty Keough
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #554 card?
It is card #554 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chico Ruiz of the Cincinnati Reds.
Is 1965 Topps #554 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last series, #507-598. Unlike most 1960s Topps sets the 1965 highs are not scarce as a run - the premium sits on the short-printed cards inside #523-598. It is also a short-print zone card. Forty-four of the 76 cards in #523-598 were short-printed; #507-522 was not. The zone is stated as a range because the catalogs disagree on exactly which cards, so no single card is marked.
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.