1966 Topps #65 Leon Wagner
About Leon Wagner
Card #65 is a first-series Cleveland issue. Wagner's 1966 was the first slip: 23 home runs and 66 RBIs, the lowest totals he ever posted as a starter. He salvaged it after the All-Star break, lifting his average 25 points to finish at .279, and credited nothing more complicated than knowing he would be in the lineup. 'When I go to bed at night, I know I'll be in the game the next day,' he told a Cleveland writer. 'When you don't know if you're playing the next day, you think - and worry - about other things.'
Leon Lamar Wagner (May 13, 1934 - January 3, 2004) was a left-handed-hitting outfielder who played twelve major-league seasons between 1958 and 1969 for the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox. New York Giants scout Ray Lucas signed him off a Michigan sandlot team in 1954, and he punished minor-league pitching - 51 home runs in the Carolina League in 1956 - while committing enough outfield errors to worry every manager he had. Blocked in San Francisco and St. Louis, he finally got a regular job with the expansion Angels in 1961 and became their first real slugger, peaking in 1962 with 37 home runs, 107 RBIs, a fourth-place MVP finish, and the All-Star Game MVP award, the first American Leaguer to win it. The press tagged him 'Daddy Wags' for the loose, below-the-waist wiggle he went through in the batter's box. Traded to Cleveland after the 1963 season, he anchored the Indians' outfield for three productive years, then slid into a platoon and pinch-hitting role as he turned 33. He finished at .272 with 211 home runs and 669 RBIs, and later sold cars and did public-relations work before his death in Los Angeles in 2004.
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 | 209 | 2 | 22 | 106 | 44 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 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: #303 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #16 Larry Brown
- #44 Indians 1966 Rookie Stars
- #88 Fred Whitfield
- #109 Ralph Terry
- #128 Jim Landis
- #129 Jack Kralick
- #133 Don McMahon
- #150 Rocky Colavito
- #169 Duke Sims
- #197 Sonny Siebert
- #216 American League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #220 American League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #222 American League 1965 ERA Leaders
- #226 American League 1965 Strikeout Leaders
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #65 card?
It is card #65 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Leon Wagner of the Cleveland Indians.
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.