1966 Topps #482 Cubs Rookie Stars - John Boccabella / Dave Dowling
On this card: John Boccabella, Dave Dowling
Not a rookie card for either player pictured.
About this card
The 46 Rookie Stars cards group a club's prospects under one number - except #553, which mixes Braves and Angels, and #591 NL Rookie Stars, which mixes Dodgers and Phillies. The class is headlined by #254 (Ferguson Jenkins, with Bill Sorrell) and #288 (Don Sutton, with Bill Singer).
The story on this card
From the 1966 Topps sixth series, this Rookie Stars card pairs Boccabella with a fellow Cubs farmhand, pitcher Dave Dowling, once his teammate on a Saskatoon summer-league club. The 1966 season marked a turning point for Boccabella: Leo Durocher moved him behind the plate to serve as insurance behind Randy Hundley, the first step in a shift from first base and the outfield to catcher that would define the rest of his career. A San Francisco-born first baseman turned catcher, Boccabella spent parts of twelve seasons with the Cubs, Expos and Giants, becoming Montreal's primary backstop in 1973.
Dowling's 1966 Topps card is card 482, a Rookie Stars issue from the set's sixth series. It is not Dowling's rookie card, shared with John Boccabella, both shown as Cubs. St. Louis had waived him that May and Chicago claimed him for $8,000; the card's stats reflect his time with the Cubs' Texas League affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he went 14-7 in 1965 after the claim. A left-handed pitcher out of Chehalis, Washington who reached the majors in just two games, with St. Louis in 1964 and the Cubs in 1966, before a shoulder injury ended his career.
Sources: Wikipedia (John Boccabella) · Wikipedia (Dave Dowling) · SABR BioProject (John Boccabella) · SABR BioProject (Dave Dowling)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 177 | 0 | 6 | 64 | 50 | 33 | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 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: #204 Chicago Cubs
More Chicago Cubs cards:
- #2 Ted Abernathy
- #24 Don Kessinger
- #43 Don Landrum
- #63 Jim Stewart
- #82 Bob Hendley
- #110 Ernie Banks
- #139 Cubs 1966 Rookie Stars
- #146 George Altman
- #166 Chris Krug
- #185 Bob Buhl
- #217 National League 1965 Home Run Leaders
- #232 Glenn Beckert
- #246 Ed Bailey
- #278 Calvin Koonce
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #482 card?
It is card #482 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Boccabella and Dave Dowling. The 46 Rookie Stars cards group a club's prospects under one number - except #553, which mixes Braves and Angels, and #591 NL Rookie Stars, which mixes Dodgers and Phillies. The class is headlined by #254 (Ferguson Jenkins, with Bill Sorrell) and #288 (Don Sutton, with Bill Singer).
Why is #482 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series, #447-522 - noticeably tougher than the first five. Nothing in #447-522 is short-printed.
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.