1965 Topps #543 Ed Connolly
About Ed Connolly
Connolly's 1965 Topps card, #543 in the seventh print series, is a high number inside the short-print zone and his recognized rookie card. It captures him with the Boston Red Sox after his 1964 rookie season, in which he made 27 appearances, including 15 starts, and threw a complete-game shutout over Kansas City. By the time this card reached shelves he had already been optioned back to Toronto, Boston's Triple-A affiliate, for the 1965 season.
Edward Joseph Connolly Jr. was a left-handed pitcher raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and the son of former Red Sox catcher Ed Connolly Sr. A University of Massachusetts graduate, he signed with Boston in June 1961 and worked his way up through Olean, Winston-Salem, Reading and a strong 1964 spring training to make the Red Sox roster. He debuted in April 1964 and threw a two-hit shutout of Kansas City that September, though a lack of run support left him with a losing record. He spent 1965 and 1966 back in the minors with Toronto and his hometown Pittsfield club before Cleveland drafted him and brought him back to the majors in 1967. After he failed to make Seattle's roster the following spring, Connolly retired from baseball and built a long career in finance, rising to senior vice president at Paine Webber in New York. He died in 1998 in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 260 | 4 | 31 | 125 | 66 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 24 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 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: #403 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #29 Felix Mantilla
- #42 Earl Wilson
- #55 Tony Conigliaro
- #74 Red Sox 1965 Rookie Stars
- #88 Jack Lamabe
- #111 Lee Thomas
- #142 Bill Monbouquette
- #147 Dennis Bennett
- #162 Russ Nixon
- #178 Dalton Jones
- #199 Bob Heffner
- #222 Bob Tillman
- #251 Billy Herman
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #543 card?
It is card #543 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Connolly of the Boston Red Sox.
Is 1965 Topps #543 a rookie card?
Yes - #543 is the 1965 Topps rookie card of Ed Connolly.
Is 1965 Topps #543 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.