1966 Topps #343 Joe Christopher
About Joe Christopher
Boston acquired Christopher after the 1965 season in the deal that sent Ed Bressoud to New York, but the change did nothing for him. He got into only 12 games for the Red Sox and went 1-for-13, and that was the end of his major league playing days. In June the Red Sox packaged him with pitcher Earl Wilson in a trade to Detroit that brought back Julio Navarro, who had grown up around Frederiksted alongside him; Christopher never played for the Tigers. Card 343 of the 1966 Topps set pictures him in a Red Sox uniform, came out in the fourth series.
Joe Christopher was born in Frederiksted, St. Croix, on December 13, 1935, and in 1959 became the first man actually born in the U.S. Virgin Islands to reach the majors since Alphonso Gerard. He debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 26, 1959, playing right field in Harvey Haddix's twelve perfect innings at Milwaukee, and spent three seasons there as a reserve behind Bob Skinner, Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente, valued above all for his speed. He appeared in three games of the 1960 World Series and scored two runs for the champions. The expansion New York Mets took him with their fifth pick in the 1961 expansion draft, though two more seasons passed before he settled in as a regular. His finest year was 1964: .300 with 16 home runs and 76 runs batted in. Traded to the Boston Red Sox after 1965, he was finished in the majors by mid-1966, closing at .260 with 29 homers and 173 RBIs across 638 games. He also starred in the Puerto Rican Winter League, winning several championships and leading it in steals four times. He died in Edgewood, Maryland, on October 3, 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 190 | 3 | 23 | 99 | 41 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #343 card?
It is card #343 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Christopher 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.