1966 Topps #579 Orioles Rookie Stars - Frank Bertaina / Gene Brabender / Dave Johnson
On this card: Frank Bertaina, Gene Brabender, Dave Johnson
Rookie Stars card; designated as a rookie card for Brabender.
About this card
The 46 Rookie Stars cards group a club's prospects under one number - except #553, which mixes Braves and Angels, and #591 NL Rookie Stars, which mixes Dodgers and Phillies. The class is headlined by #254 (Ferguson Jenkins, with Bill Sorrell) and #288 (Don Sutton, with Bill Singer).
The story on this card
Bertaina made Baltimore's Opening Day roster in 1966, the year the Orioles swept the Dodgers in the World Series, though he did not pitch in the Series itself. His 1966 Topps Rookie Stars card, #579, is a high number shared with fellow Orioles farmhands Gene Brabender and Dave Johnson. A left-handed pitcher from San Francisco who threw for the Orioles, Senators and Cardinals from 1964 to 1970, primarily as a starter, and held a spot on Baltimore's 1966 World Series championship roster.
Brabender made his major league debut in relief for the Orioles on May 11, 1966, and went on to post a 4-3 record with a 3.55 ERA over 31 games as a rookie, part of the pitching staff that carried Baltimore to a World Series championship that fall. This card is a multi-player Rookie Stars issue from the set's seventh and final print series, a high number, shared with fellow Orioles rookies Frank Bertaina and Dave Johnson. It is recognized as Brabender's rookie card. A hard-throwing Wisconsin farm boy who stood out for his size and strength, Brabender helped the 1966 Orioles win a title as a rookie and later led the expansion Seattle Pilots in wins.
Hank Bauer handed Johnson the second base job in the spring of 1966 over five-year incumbent Jerry Adair, and Adair's complaints helped push Baltimore to trade him to the White Sox in June. Johnson played 131 games, hit .257 with seven home runs and 56 RBI, and finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting; in October he batted .286 in the sweep of the Dodgers and collected the last hit Sandy Koufax ever allowed. Topps put him on a seventh-series Rookie Stars card with Frank Bertaina and Gene Brabender, a high number and a recognized rookie card. Slick-fielding Baltimore second baseman on four pennant winners, a 43-homer season in Atlanta, three Gold Gloves and four All-Star Games, then one of the first managers to run his lineups through a computer.
Sources: Wikipedia (Frank Bertaina) · Wikipedia (Gene Brabender) · SABR BioProject (Frank Bertaina) · SABR BioProject (Gene Brabender) · SABR BioProject (Davey Johnson)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 488 | 3 | 38 | 187 | 131 | 71 | 34 | 21 | 3 |
| SGC | 43 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
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: #348 Baltimore Orioles
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #14 Norm Siebern
- #27 Orioles 1966 Rookie Stars
- #48 Paul Blair
- #90 Luis Aparicio
- #105 Milt Pappas
- #126 Jim Palmer
- #136 Woody Held
- #148 Bob Johnson
- #167 Boog Powell
- #193 Dave McNally
- #229 Hank Bauer
- #247 Carl Warwick
- #265 Stu Miller
- #291 Moe Drabowsky
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #579 card?
It is card #579 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Bertaina, Gene Brabender and Dave Johnson. The 46 Rookie Stars cards group a club's prospects under one number - except #553, which mixes Braves and Angels, and #591 NL Rookie Stars, which mixes Dodgers and Phillies. The class is headlined by #254 (Ferguson Jenkins, with Bill Sorrell) and #288 (Don Sutton, with Bill Singer).
Is #579 a rookie card for all three players?
No. #579 is the rookie card of Gene Brabender only; Frank Bertaina and Dave Johnson are not credited with a rookie card on it.
Why is #579 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #523-598 - the scarce end of the set. Forty-three of its 76 cards are short prints, so scarcity is stated for the series as a whole.
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.