1966 Topps #97 Jim Merritt
About Jim Merritt
Jim Merritt's Topps debut arrived with card #97, part of the 1966 set's first series and a recognized rookie card, picturing him with the Minnesota Twins. His 1966 season started rough, used mainly in relief before a July move into the rotation, but he tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts in a three-hit shutout of Washington on July 21 and closed the year 7-14 with a 3.38 ERA.
Jim Merritt was a tall, lanky left-handed pitcher who spent eleven big-league seasons, most notably with the Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati Reds. Signed out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was taken by the Twins in the first-year player draft before throwing a professional pitch for Los Angeles and worked his way through their farm system, debuting in the majors in August 1965 in time to pitch in that fall's World Series. Teammates nicknamed him Bones for his rail-thin 6-foot-3 frame. He blossomed into one of the American League's stingiest control pitchers in 1967, then peaked with Cincinnati in 1970, making the All-Star team and winning twenty games as the Reds reached the World Series. An elbow injury that flared up in 1971 sapped his effectiveness, and he wound down his career with the Texas Rangers. He finished with an 81-86 record and 932 strikeouts.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 175 | 1 | 26 | 74 | 43 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 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: #526 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #3 Sam Mele
- #22 Joe Nossek
- #40 Jim Grant
- #56 Sandy Valdespino
- #73 Jerry Zimmerman
- #120 Harmon Killebrew
- #181 Al Worthington
- #190 Jimmie Hall
- #207 Frank Quilici
- #216 American League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #220 American League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #224 American League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #240 Earl Battey
- #264 Twins 1966 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #97 card?
It is card #97 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Merritt of the Minnesota Twins.
Is 1966 Topps #97 a rookie card?
Yes - #97 is the 1966 Topps rookie card of Jim Merritt.
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.