1965 Topps #321 Rusty Staub
About Rusty Staub
A fourth-series card, and the first of his to carry the club's new Astros name. Houston opened the Astrodome that season, baseball's first indoor park, and Staub had already left his mark on it: during a February batting-practice session he became the first man to drive a ball into its stands. His season started badly, his average still sitting at .216 on June 28, before the second half turned everything around. He closed at .256 with 14 home runs and 63 RBIs in 131 games, the first time he had reached double figures in homers and the first real evidence that the bonus money had been well spent.
Daniel Joseph Staub was born in New Orleans on April 1, 1944; a hospital nurse nicknamed him Rusty for the red fuzz on his head, and it stuck for life. A star at Jesuit High School, he signed with the expansion Houston Colt .45s in 1961 for a bonus reported at $100,000 and reached the majors at 19. A left-handed hitter with a patient eye, he grew into a six-time All-Star and one of the game's steadiest run producers, closing 23 seasons with 2,716 hits, 499 doubles, 292 home runs and 1,466 RBIs. Traded to Montreal for the Expos' 1969 debut, he became the club's first star, took French lessons for its fans, and in 1993 was the first Expo to have his number retired. He later played for the Mets, Tigers and Rangers, retiring as the only man with 500 hits for four different franchises. Off the field he ran two Manhattan restaurants and founded funds for the families of New York police and firefighters and for city food pantries. Inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012, he died in 2018 at 73.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 417 | 1 | 37 | 189 | 94 | 46 | 22 | 28 | 0 |
| SGC | 47 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 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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- #164 Al Spangler
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #321 card?
It is card #321 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rusty Staub of the Houston Astros.
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.