1965 Topps #581 National League Rookie Stars - Tony Perez / Kevin Collins / Dave Ricketts
On this card: Tony Perez, Kevin Collins, Dave Ricketts
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
Perez first turns up in the seventh series of 1965, sharing #581, a National League Rookie Stars slot, with New York's Kevin Collins and St. Louis's Dave Ricketts. It is a high number inside the set's short-print zone, and Perez makes it one of the set's key rookie cards. He earned the slot at Triple-A San Diego, where 34 home runs and 107 runs batted in made him the Pacific Coast League's Most Valuable Player, before a late-July call-up and two hits in 25 at-bats. The Cuban-born run producer at the heart of the Big Red Machine, a seven-time All-Star who drove in 90 or more runs eleven years running, won World Series rings in 1975 and 1976, and reached Cooperstown in 2000.
Collins was on the Mets' Opening Day roster in 1965 but did not get into a game until September 1, when he pinch-hit for fellow debutant Rob Gardner at Shea Stadium and struck out looking against Houston's Turk Farrell. His first hit, a single off Pittsburgh's Bob Friend, came three weeks later. He finished 4-for-23 in 11 games, seven of them at third base and three at shortstop, with three runs scored, no home runs and no runs batted in. Topps put him on card #581, a Rookie Stars card shared with Cincinnati's Tony Perez and St. Louis's Dave Ricketts. It is a true high number from the seventh series, inside the short-print zone, and Perez's presence makes it one of the key rookie cards in the set. Massachusetts schoolboy shortstop who reached the Mets at 19 in 1965, was traded to Montreal in the Donn Clendenon deal that helped make the 1969 champions, and finished as a Detroit pinch hitter.
Ricketts shares this Rookie Stars card from the set's last series with Cincinnati's Tony Perez and the Mets' Kevin Collins, and #581 is a rookie card, though the reason collectors chase this high number so hard is Perez. Ricketts made the Opening Day roster only because McCarver fractured a finger in spring training, caught the first four games when Uecker also got hurt, then spent most of the summer back in the minors and finished with 11 games and a .241 average. A switch-hitting reserve catcher for St. Louis and Pittsburgh between 1963 and 1970, Dave Ricketts backed up Tim McCarver on the 1967 world champion Cardinals, then coached big league bullpens in Pittsburgh and St. Louis for parts of two decades.
Sources: Wikipedia (Kevin Collins) · Wikipedia (Dave Ricketts) · SABR BioProject (Tony Perez) · SABR BioProject (Kevin Collins) · SABR BioProject (Dave Ricketts)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 3,929 | 4 | 99 | 658 | 775 | 767 | 624 | 987 | 15 |
| SGC | 1,165 | 1 | 10 | 75 | 180 | 238 | 262 | 377 | 22 |
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 cards: #316 Cincinnati Reds, #551 New York Mets, #57 St. Louis Cardinals
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
More New York Mets cards:
- #22 Charlie Smith
- #45 Roy McMillan
- #61 Chris Cannizzaro
- #73 Dennis Ribant
- #93 Jack Fisher
- #114 Jim Hickman
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #6 National League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #10 National League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #28 Barney Schultz
- #43 Mike Shannon
- #78 Dal Maxvill
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #581 card?
It is card #581 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Perez, Kevin Collins and Dave Ricketts. 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 #581 a rookie card?
Yes - #581 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Tony Perez, Kevin Collins and Dave Ricketts.
What are the key cards in the 1965 Topps set?
The #350 Mickey Mantle is the grail of the set. The other major keys are #250 Willie Mays, #300 Sandy Koufax, #170 Hank Aaron, #160 Roberto Clemente (printed "Bob" Clemente), #207 Pete Rose, #510 Ernie Banks and #460 Richie (Dick) Allen, plus four Hall of Fame rookies on Rookie Stars cards: #16 Joe Morgan, #477 Steve Carlton, #526 Jim (Catfish) Hunter and #581 Tony Perez. The short-printed cards inside #523-598 are the hardest to find.
Is 1965 Topps #581 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.