1966 Topps #475 Dick Radatz
About Dick Radatz
Card #475 comes from the sixth series, and it still shows Radatz as Boston's closer after a much rougher 1965: 9-11 with a 3.91 ERA and 22 saves in 63 games for a ninth-place club that went 62-100. It was the first losing record of his career. He blamed the slide on a sinker he picked up that spring, a change of motion that cost him the fastball he lived on. Manager Billy Herman had said before the season that Radatz would not pitch unless Boston was ahead, a rule he gave up on by May 5.
Richard Raymond Radatz, a 6-foot-6 right-hander out of Detroit and Michigan State University, debuted with the Boston Red Sox on April 10, 1962, after a minor-league conversion from starter to reliever. He was the American League's most feared closer of the early 1960s: a two-time All-Star (1963, 1964) and two-time Sporting News Fireman of the Year (1962, 1964) who led the league in saves as a rookie and, in 1964, struck out a still-standing major-league record 181 batters in relief. The nickname "The Monster" is credited to Mickey Mantle, though the accounts of the night he hung it on Radatz do not agree. Boston traded him to Cleveland in June 1966, and he later pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and Montreal Expos before finishing in 1969 with a 52-43 record, a 3.13 ERA, 122 saves and 745 strikeouts in 693-2/3 innings. The Red Sox put him in their team Hall of Fame in 1997. He died in 2005 at age 67 after a fall at his Easton, Massachusetts home.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 243 | 4 | 36 | 142 | 32 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 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: #259 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #6 Chuck Schilling
- #37 Billy Herman
- #53 Bob Duliba
- #70 Carl Yastrzemski
- #93 Jim Lonborg
- #114 Jim Gosger
- #135 Dave Morehead
- #178 Bob Tillman
- #203 Jose Santiago
- #216 American League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #218 American League 1965 Home Run Leaders
- #227 Russ Nixon
- #277 George Thomas
- #298 Rico Petrocelli
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #475 card?
It is card #475 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Radatz of the Boston Red Sox.
Why is #475 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.