1965 Topps #561 Dodgers Rookie Stars - Dennis Daboll / Mike Kekich / Jim Lefebvre / Hector Valle
On this card: Dennis Daboll, Mike Kekich, Jim Lefebvre, Hector Valle
Also the rookie card of Dodgers infielder Jim Lefebvre.
About this card
This is one of the 55 Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 Topps set, each picturing two to four young players - 126 players in all - under a team banner, except #577 and #581, which carry American League and National League banners over players from three clubs. Joe Morgan (#16), Steve Carlton (#477), Jim (Catfish) Hunter (#526) and Tony Perez (#581) make their Topps debuts on these cards.
The story on this card
Card #561 is Daboll's only card in Topps' 1960s run: a Rookie Stars issue out of the seventh print series, a high number inside the short-print zone, and the rookie card of Jim Lefebvre, who was named National League Rookie of the Year for the World Series-winning Dodgers that same season. Four young Dodgers share the frame here, Daboll along with Mike Kekich, Lefebvre and Hector Valle. Kekich went on to pitch parts of nine big-league seasons between 1965 and 1977, and Valle caught nine games for the 1965 Dodgers, while Daboll never appeared in a major league game. The demand for the card belongs to Lefebvre. Right-handed pitcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers system who reached Class A Santa Barbara in 1964 and never made the major leagues, remembered today through a single 1965 Topps Rookie Stars card.
Card #561 is Kekich's rookie card, a four-player Dodgers Rookie Stars panel he shares with Dennis Daboll, Jim Lefebvre and Hector Valle. It falls in the seventh and last print series, a high number inside the short-print zone of the 1965 set. Kekich's own 1965 was a short one: he debuted on June 9 at twenty, got into five games with one of them a start, and finished 0-1 with a 9.58 ERA over 10.1 innings. He would not pitch in the majors again until 1968. Left-handed pitcher who broke in with the Dodgers, spent his best years in the Yankees rotation, and finished 39-51 across nine big league seasons; off the field, remembered for the 1973 family swap with Fritz Peterson.
Lefebvre shares the 1965 Topps Rookie Stars card at #561 with Dennis Daboll, Mike Kekich and Hector Valle, all pictured as Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rookie of the Year season behind it produced a .250 average, 12 home runs and 69 RBI in 157 games, plus a .333 stretch during a 13-game Los Angeles winning streak in late September that pushed the club to the pennant. He went four-for-10 in the World Series before hurting a heel in Game Three; the Dodgers beat Minnesota in seven. Switch-hitting Los Angeles Dodgers infielder, 1965-1972. National League Rookie of the Year and a World Series winner in the same 1965 season, an All-Star the next year, then a long second career coaching and managing in the majors.
Valle's 1965 card is #561, a Rookie Stars slot he shares with Dennis Daboll, Mike Kekich and Jim Lefebvre, all four shown as Los Angeles Dodgers. He had debuted that June 6, and the nine games he played over the summer turned out to be the whole of his major league record. A Puerto Rican catcher whose whole major league record was nine games with the 1965 Dodgers, six of them behind the plate, with a .308 average to show for it before years more in the minors and the Mexican League.
Sources: Wikipedia (Jim Lefebvre) · Wikipedia (Mike Kekich) · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Stats Crew
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 534 | 2 | 54 | 244 | 125 | 51 | 33 | 22 | 3 |
| SGC | 44 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 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: #126 Los Angeles Dodgers
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- #59 Nate Oliver
- #77 Doug Camilli
- #98 Bob Miller
- #112 Derrell Griffith
- #119 John Kennedy
- #196 Ron Fairly
- #217 Walt Alston
- #238 Joe Moeller
- #247 Wally Moon
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- #279 Dick Tracewski
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #561 card?
It is card #561 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dennis Daboll, Mike Kekich, Jim Lefebvre and Hector Valle. This is one of the 55 Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 Topps set, each picturing two to four young players - 126 players in all - under a team banner, except #577 and #581, which carry American League and National League banners over players from three clubs. Joe Morgan (#16), Steve Carlton (#477), Jim (Catfish) Hunter (#526) and Tony Perez (#581) make their Topps debuts on these cards.
Is 1965 Topps #561 a rookie card?
Yes - #561 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Dennis Daboll, Mike Kekich, Jim Lefebvre and Hector Valle.
Is 1965 Topps #561 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.