1966 Topps #117 Jake Gibbs
About Jake Gibbs
Card #117, a second-series issue, is Gibbs's first solo Topps card since 1962; the two in between shared their fronts with other Yankee hopefuls. It reports 1965, his first real taste of the majors, 37 games and 21 of them behind the plate, 68 at-bats, a .221 average, two home runs and seven RBI as Elston Howard's backup. Topps printed this number in the Venezuelan edition of the set too, a parallel collectors chase.
Jake Gibbs, born Jerry Dean Gibbs in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1938, was a two-sport star at Ole Miss. He led the Rebels to their first SEC baseball championship in 1959, and in the 1961 Sugar Bowl he ran for both touchdowns and took MVP honors in a 14-6 win over Rice that capped a 10-0-1 season the Football Writers Association of America crowned national champion. A unanimous All-America quarterback and the 1960 SEC Player of the Year, he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Oilers and chose baseball anyway, signing with New York in 1961 for a bonus reported at $100,000 or more; the Yankees turned the young infielder into a catcher in 1963. His whole ten-year career, 1962 through 1971, was spent in the Bronx, .233 with 25 home runs and 146 RBI in 538 games, first backing up Elston Howard, then catching regularly in 1967 and 1968, finally giving way to Thurman Munson. He went home to coach Ole Miss baseball for 19 seasons, 1972 through 1990, winning 485 games, and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 242 | 1 | 27 | 106 | 57 | 29 | 15 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 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: #92 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #9 Clete Boyer
- #31 Jack Cullen
- #50 Mickey Mantle
- #68 Hal Reniff
- #79 Joe Pepitone
- #138 Roger Repoz
- #160 Whitey Ford
- #177 Hector Lopez
- #186 Ruben Amaro
- #205 Tom Tresh
- #224 American League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #234 Yankees 1966 Rookie Stars
- #276 Jim Bouton
- #296 Johnny Keane
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #117 card?
It is card #117 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jake Gibbs of the New York Yankees.
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.