1966 Topps #159 Chico Ruiz
About Chico Ruiz
Card #159 reports a lost 1965: Ruiz got into 29 games, most of them as a pinch-runner, took the field only seven times and went 2-for-18 for a .111 average before breaking his ankle sliding into third on August 25. The second-series number falls inside the first 370, the range Topps also issued that year as a Venezuelan parallel - identical design, still printed in English, but on darker and thinner cardboard that rarely survives in mint condition - so this card exists in a companion version far tougher to find clean than the one most collectors handle.
Chico Ruiz was born Giraldo Sablon Ruiz on December 5, 1938, in Santo Domingo, Cuba, where his father ran a cigar factory. American paperwork rendered the first name Hiraldo after his father's Spanish pronunciation was misheard at immigration, and "Chico" was a generic Spanish "buddy" pinned on him by Americans. He signed with Cincinnati in 1958 through the Cuban pipeline that ran between Reds general manager Gabe Paul and Bobby Maduro of the Havana Sugar Kings, spent six seasons in the farm system, and led his league in stolen bases five years running, from 61 for Visalia in 1959 through 50 for San Diego in 1963. A switch-hitting utility infielder who played mainly second base and third, Ruiz debuted April 13, 1964, and hit .240 with 34 steals over 565 games for Cincinnati (1964-1969) and California (1970-1971). His signature moment came September 21, 1964, when he stole home off Art Mahaffey with Frank Robinson batting, the only run of a 1-0 win that touched off the Phillies' ten-game collapse. He died in a single-car crash near his San Diego home on February 9, 1972, at 33.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 193 | 1 | 22 | 91 | 44 | 18 | 6 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #59 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #12 John Tsitouris
- #30 Pete Rose
- #72 Tony Perez
- #89 Ted Davidson
- #119 Art Shamsky
- #140 Jim Maloney
- #180 Vada Pinson
- #196 Don Pavletich
- #214 Tommy Harper
- #219 National League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #233 Dom Zanni
- #250 Sam Ellis
- #269 Don Heffner
- #272 Jack Baldschun
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #159 card?
It is card #159 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chico Ruiz of the Cincinnati Reds.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, 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.