1966 Topps #36 Jim Hunter
A double print: number 36 was printed twice on its sheet, so copies turn up more often than the rest of the first series.
About Jim Hunter
Number 36 is a first-series card and a double print, so copies turn up more often than the rest of that run. The back sums up 1965, when the 19-year-old went 8-8 with a 4.26 ERA and 82 strikeouts across 133 innings for a Kansas City club that lost 103 games and finished tenth. Two more seasons in Kansas City followed before the franchise moved to Oakland.
James Augustus "Catfish" Hunter was a right-handed pitcher who spent 1965-1974 with the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics and 1975-1979 with the New York Yankees, going 224-166 with a 3.26 ERA and 2,012 strikeouts. Owner Charlie Finley signed him out of Perquimans County High School in Hertford, North Carolina, on June 8, 1964, months after a hunting accident cost him a toe; Finley hung the nickname "Catfish" on him during a phone call at the time of that signing. Apart from a fall instructional-league stint, Hunter never pitched in the minor leagues, and he debuted for Kansas City in May 1965 at 19. He anchored Oakland's three straight World Series titles from 1972 through 1974, won 20 or more games in five consecutive seasons from 1971 through 1975, and took the 1974 American League Cy Young Award after going 25-12 with a league-best 2.49 ERA. On May 8, 1968, he threw a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins. After Finley breached his contract, an arbitrator declared him a free agent in December 1974; his five-year Yankees deal made him baseball's first big-money free agent, and New York won the World Series in 1977 and 1978. Arm trouble ended his career after 1979. He entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and died of ALS in 1999.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,709 | 1 | 35 | 264 | 350 | 325 | 276 | 447 | 11 |
| SGC | 419 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 60 | 96 | 99 | 148 | 1 |
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: #492 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #18 Roland Sheldon
- #55 Ken Harrelson
- #74 Don Mossi
- #107 Athletics 1966 Rookie Stars
- #143 Jose Tartabull
- #157 Rene Lachemann
- #175 Bert Campaneris
- #201 Jim Dickson
- #236 Mike Hershberger
- #256 Lew Krausse
- #287 Jack Aker
- #309 Diego Segui
- #332 Billy Bryan
- #366 Wayne Causey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #36 card?
It is card #36 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Hunter of the Kansas City Athletics.
Is 1966 Topps #36 a scarce card?
It is a double print card (cards 30, 36, 50, 90, 93, 100). Six first-series cards were printed in double quantity: Pete Rose, Catfish Hunter, Mickey Mantle, Luis Aparicio, Jim Lonborg (#93) and Sandy Koufax. A double print is more plentiful, not scarcer - Mantle stays a set keystone regardless.
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.