1966 Topps #256 Lew Krausse
About Lew Krausse
Kansas City used Krausse sparingly again in 1965 - 2-4, a 5.04 ERA and 25.0 innings over seven appearances - and that is the line standing behind #256 in the third series. His winter was the better story: pitching for Leones del Caracas he came within one hit of a perfect game, threw another one-hitter a week later, and set Venezuelan league records with 21 strikeouts in a game and ten in a row. Numbers 1 through 370, this card among them, were also printed for the Venezuelan market on darker, thinner stock, which is why that parallel is so hard to find sharp.
Lewis Bernard Krausse Jr. (April 25, 1943 - February 16, 2021) was credited with 18 no-hitters in amateur ball before he left Chester High School in Pennsylvania. Kansas City signed him within hours of his June 6, 1961 graduation for $125,000, a figure Athletics general manager Frank Lane called baseball's largest bonus ever; his father, Lew Krausse Sr., a former Philadelphia Athletics pitcher, scouted for the club. Ten days after graduation, at 18, Krausse threw a three-hit, 4-0 shutout over the expansion Los Angeles Angels, becoming the youngest pitcher in either league to complete a nine-inning shutout. Control problems and elbow surgery then kept him in the minors through 1962 and 1963. He broke through in 1966 at 14-9 with a 2.99 ERA; in 1967 owner Charlie Finley fined and suspended him over a team flight, turmoil that cost manager Alvin Dark his job and Ken Harrelson his release. Krausse pitched twelve major league seasons for five clubs, finishing 68-91 with a 4.00 ERA, then built a Kansas City metals business. He entered the Delaware County, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 205 | 4 | 31 | 112 | 37 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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
- #287 Jack Aker
- #309 Diego Segui
- #332 Billy Bryan
- #366 Wayne Causey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #256 card?
It is card #256 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lew Krausse of the Kansas City Athletics.
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.