1965 Topps #552 Julio Gotay
About Julio Gotay
The seventh and final series of 1965 put Gotay at number 552, a high number inside the short-print zone. Los Angeles used him as a spare part rather than a starter: he spent a half-season with the Angels in 1965, 40 games in all, batting .247 with four doubles, a home run and three runs batted in, and took his infield turns at second base and third instead of the shortstop job that had been his in St. Louis.
Julio Gotay was a right-handed shortstop and second baseman from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, who played all or parts of ten major-league seasons between 1960 and 1969 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros. He reached the majors at 21, debuting for St. Louis on August 6, 1960, and singled off Joe Nuxhall in his first at-bat while pinch-hitting for Ed Bauta. Only one of those ten seasons made him a regular; the rest he spent as a utility infielder, in and out of Triple-A, finishing with a .260 average, 257 hits, 38 doubles, six home runs and 70 runs batted in over 389 games. He was famously superstitious, and teammate Jim Bouton wrote that he carried a dead fish on plane trips to ward off evil spirits. An uncle of infielder Ruben Gotay, he left the game after the 1971 minor-league season, earned a degree in education and taught physical education for years in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where he died on July 4, 2008, at 69.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 308 | 4 | 45 | 169 | 55 | 18 | 11 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 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: #293 Los Angeles Angels
More Los Angeles Angels cards:
- #7 American League 1964 ERA Leaders
- #9 American League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #11 American League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #26 Bobby Knoop
- #46 Bob Lee
- #66 Bill Rigney
- #85 Willie Smith
- #101 Fred Newman
- #124 Tom Satriano
- #140 Dean Chance
- #172 Jim Piersall
- #194 Angels 1965 Rookie Stars
- #210 Jim Fregosi
- #229 Lou Clinton
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #552 card?
It is card #552 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Julio Gotay of the Los Angeles Angels.
Is 1965 Topps #552 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.