1966 Topps #521 John Wyatt
About John Wyatt
The sixth-series card is the last of his Topps cards to picture him with the Athletics. Behind it sits 1965: 65 games, 88 2/3 innings, a 2-6 record, 3.25 ERA and 18 saves, closing a four-year stretch in which he won or saved 97 of Kansas City's 261 victories. The 1966 season undid that standing quickly, as Wyatt pitched poorly out of the gate and lost the late-inning job to Jack Aker, who saved 32 games that year.
John Wyatt was a right-handed relief pitcher, born April 19, 1935, in Chicago and raised in Buffalo, New York. He signed out of high school with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and pitched for them from 1953 to 1955, with a season in the St. Louis Cardinals chain in 1954 that ended in his release. Kansas City's organization picked him up in 1956, and after two years in the Army and stops that reached as far as the Mexican League, he arrived in the majors with the Athletics in September 1961, already 26. He became the workhorse of the Kansas City bullpen, attacking hitters with a sidearm fastball and shrugging off years of accusations that he greased the ball. In 1964 he set a major league record with 81 appearances and made his only All-Star team. Traded to Boston in June 1966, he was the Red Sox bullpen ace of the 1967 Impossible Dream pennant race and won Game Six of the World Series against St. Louis. He pitched for the Yankees and the pennant-winning Tigers in 1968 and for Oakland in 1969, finishing 42-44 with 103 saves and a 3.47 ERA. He died April 6, 1998, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 218 | 2 | 34 | 107 | 43 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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: #492 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #18 Roland Sheldon
- #36 Jim Hunter
- #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
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #521 card?
It is card #521 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Wyatt of the Kansas City Athletics.
Why is #521 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series, #447-522 - noticeably tougher than the first five. Nothing in #447-522 is short-printed.
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.