1966 Topps #561 Choo Choo Coleman
About Choo Choo Coleman
Coleman came to 1966 spring training as a nonroster invitee after being dropped from the 40-man roster, and he won the third catching job behind Jerry Grote and John Stephenson. He started five of the Mets' first six games; the last, on April 23 in Atlanta, proved to be his final big-league appearance. He went 3-for-16 for the year and was shipped to Triple-A Jacksonville about three weeks later, then kept playing in the minors into the early 1970s. Card #561 belongs to the seventh and final series of 1966, a high number, and it reached packs months after he had left the majors for good.
Clarence Coleman, the catcher everyone called Choo-Choo, signed in 1955 with his hometown Orlando club, a Class D Washington Senators affiliate, spent part of 1956 barnstorming with the Indianapolis Clowns, then climbed the Los Angeles Dodgers chain from Class D Orlando to Class A Macon to Triple-A Montreal by 1960. A left-handed hitter who threw right and drew praise for his arm, he was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies with the first pick of the November 1960 Rule 5 draft and debuted on April 16, 1961, hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance. The expansion New York Mets took him in the October 1961 draft, and he caught in parts of three Mets seasons - 1962, 1963 and 1966 - becoming one of the best-loved figures of the franchise's early years. Over four big-league seasons he batted .197 with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs in 201 games. Afterward he cooked and helped run a Chinese restaurant owned by his wife's family in Newport News, Virginia, then retired to South Carolina, where he died in 2016.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 698 | 3 | 41 | 172 | 185 | 135 | 77 | 83 | 2 |
| SGC | 87 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 2 |
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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1966 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #172 New York Mets
More New York Mets cards:
- #17 Johnny Stephenson
- #35 Ron Swoboda
- #51 Gordon Richardson
- #67 Mets 1966 Rookie Stars
- #87 Dan Napoleon
- #108 Bobby Klaus
- #124 Tug McGraw
- #154 Chuck Hiller
- #188 Al Luplow
- #191 Darrell Sutherland
- #212 Ed Kranepool
- #241 Dennis Ribant
- #262 Jack Hamilton
- #282 Johnny Lewis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #561 card?
It is card #561 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Choo Choo Coleman of the New York Mets.
Why is #561 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #523-598 - the scarce end of the set. Forty-three of its 76 cards are short prints, so scarcity is stated for the series as a whole.
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.