1966 Topps #174 Ron Taylor
About Ron Taylor
His only full season in Houston was his worst: 36 games, a 2-3 record, no saves and a 5.71 ERA, with 89 hits allowed in 64 2/3 innings. That pushed his season-and-a-half with the Astros to three wins in 11 decisions and a 6.03 ERA over 68 games. Taylor felt he was never used often enough to stay sharp, and after the season Houston sent his contract outright to Oklahoma City. Card #174 gives him an Astros cap in the second series.
Ronald Wesley Taylor was born December 13, 1937, in Toronto and died there on June 16, 2025, at 87. A natural left-hander whose mother made him learn to throw right-handed, he signed with Cleveland at 18 on the condition that he could keep going to school, and took an electrical engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1961 while working his way up the Indians' farm system. Over parts of 11 major league seasons from 1962 to 1972 he pitched for Cleveland, the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, New York Mets and San Diego Padres, going 45-43 with a 3.93 ERA, over 70 saves and 464 strikeouts in 491 games, 474 of them in relief. He won World Series rings with the 1964 Cardinals and the 1969 Miracle Mets and never gave up a hit in seven World Series innings. Taylor then enrolled at the University of Toronto medical school, graduated in 1977, and in 1979 became the Toronto Blue Jays' team physician, a job he held for more than three decades. He entered the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · The Baseball Cube
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 231 | 2 | 22 | 134 | 48 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 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
More Houston Astros cards:
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- #45 Jim Gentile
- #64 Bob Bruce
- #86 John Bateman
- #106 Rusty Staub
- #122 Joe Gaines
- #147 Lum Harris
- #162 Lee Maye
- #195 Joe Morgan
- #228 Larry Dierker
- #244 Astros 1966 Rookie Stars
- #258 Dave Giusti
- #273 Astro Aces
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #174 card?
It is card #174 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Taylor of the Houston Astros.
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.