1966 Topps #514 Hal Woodeshick
About Hal Woodeshick
Card No. 514 comes from the sixth series. The 1966 season shrank his role: a left shoulder injury in his final spring outing opened the closing job for Joe Hoerner, another left-hander Houston had let go, and Woodeshick never took it back. He was still hard to hit, keeping his ERA under 2.00 across a little more than 70 innings, the lightest workload he had carried since 1961, and he spent the summer coaching up the Cardinals' young arms. Hoerner said afterward that Woodeshick gave him a lot of confidence and showed him how to pitch to particular hitters.
Harold Joseph Woodeshick, born August 24, 1932, in Askam, Pennsylvania, in the coal country outside Wilkes-Barre, signed with the Phillies at seventeen and needed a decade to stick. Two Army years as a military policeman and a long minor league apprenticeship slowed him; brief looks with Detroit in 1956 and Cleveland in 1958 led only to two seasons of swing work for the original Washington Senators. Expansion remade the left-hander's career. Drafted by the new Senators in December 1960, traded back to Detroit in June 1961 and sold to Houston that October, he became one of only three players to play two straight seasons for two different expansion teams in their inaugural campaigns. The Colt .45s turned him into their first true closer in 1963, a 1.97 ERA earning his only All-Star selection, and he led the National League with 23 saves in 1964. Traded to St. Louis in 1965, he finished on the 1967 World Series champion Cardinals and retired at 44-62 with 61 saves and a 3.56 ERA. He was nicknamed the Switchman for his knack of turning out the lights on opposing batters, and died in Houston in 2009 at 76.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 185 | 4 | 27 | 92 | 37 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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.
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: #379 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #7 Tracy Stallard
- #26 Ray Sadecki
- #60 Curt Flood
- #76 Red Schoendienst
- #91 Bob Uecker
- #103 Dick Groat
- #125 Lou Brock
- #137 Pat Corrales
- #142 Don Dennis
- #163 Tito Francona
- #179 Cardinals 1966 Rookie Stars
- #206 Alvin Jackson
- #225 National League 1965 Strikeout Leaders
- #243 Nelson Briles
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #514 card?
It is card #514 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Hal Woodeshick of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Why is #514 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.