1966 Topps #4 Ray Culp
About Ray Culp
Card #4 is a first-series Phillies card issued after Culp's best year since his rookie season: 14-10, a 3.22 ERA, 11 complete games and 30 starts in 1965, when he also tied for the National League lead by hitting 12 batters. Because it sits inside the first 370 numbers, #4 has a 1966 Topps Venezuelan counterpart, printed in English like the American cards but on darker, thinner stock that leaves high-grade survivors scarce.
Ray Culp, a right-handed pitcher born August 6, 1941, in Elgin, Texas, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies out of Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin for a $100,000 bonus in 1959, then spent four uneven minor-league seasons before sticking in the majors. He debuted on April 10, 1963, and was named The Sporting News' National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year that season, going 14-11 with a 2.97 ERA, 176 strikeouts, five shutouts and an All-Star selection. Elbow trouble knocked him back the following year, and after a bullpen-heavy 1966 he demanded a trade; Philadelphia sent him to the Chicago Cubs that December for Dick Ellsworth, and Chicago dealt him to the Boston Red Sox a year later. Armed with a palmball Roger Craig had shown him back in Philadelphia, he became the Red Sox ace, winning between 14 and 17 games in each of his first four seasons there and making a second All-Star team in 1969. Shoulder surgery and arm trouble ended his career in 1973 at 122-101 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,411 strikeouts over 11 seasons; he went home to Austin and built a real-estate business.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 186 | 1 | 15 | 92 | 43 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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: #463 Philadelphia Phillies
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- #104 Alex Johnson
- #121 Ray Herbert
- #151 Gary Wagner
- #170 Cookie Rojas
- #202 Clay Dalrymple
- #230 Johnny Callison
- #254 Phillies 1966 Rookie Stars
- #284 Bobby Wine
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #4 card?
It is card #4 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ray Culp of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.