1966 Topps #114 Jim Gosger
About Jim Gosger
Card #114 is a plain second-series base card, and it catches Gosger at the high-water mark of his standing in Boston. Recalled from Triple-A Toronto in early July 1965, he took over center field and hit .256 with nine home runs in 81 games, and owner Tom Yawkey spent that winter calling the 23-year-old untouchable in trade talks. He opened 1966 platooning in center with George Thomas and stood at .254 with five homers through June 12, two of those coming off Denny McLain on June 8 in the only two-homer game of his career, when Boston dealt him to Kansas City on June 13. Topps ran #114 through its 370-card Venezuelan issue as well, printed on darker, rougher stock with an orange back.
James Charles Gosger was born November 6, 1942, in Port Huron, Michigan, where he lettered in four sports at St. Stephen High School. Red Sox scout Maurice De Loof signed him in January 1962, during his second year at Port Huron Junior College. He broke into pro ball at Winston-Salem, batting .283 with 19 home runs and 83 RBI and making the Carolina League postseason all-star team alongside Rusty Staub, Tony Perez and Rico Petrocelli. Across parts of ten major league seasons (1963-1974) the left-handed-hitting outfielder played for the Red Sox, the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics, the expansion Seattle Pilots, the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos, appearing in 705 games and batting .226 with 30 home runs and 177 RBI; managers praised his hustle and his quick, accurate arm even as his bat cooled. Jim Bouton's diary Ball Four turned him into folklore: hiding in his roommate's closet, Gosger cracked a deadpan "Yeah, surrre," and the line became clubhouse slang. Called up by the Mets in September 1969, he started the September 12 doubleheader at Forbes Field and drew a $100 World Series share although he was ineligible for the postseason roster. He retired after 1974 and spent three decades back home in Port Huron as a high school and junior college football and basketball referee.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Trading Card Database
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 178 | 3 | 27 | 88 | 36 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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:
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- #53 Bob Duliba
- #70 Carl Yastrzemski
- #93 Jim Lonborg
- #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
- #317 Dalton Jones
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #114 card?
It is card #114 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Gosger of the Boston Red Sox.
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.