1966 Topps #106 Rusty Staub
About Rusty Staub
Two Astros cards in the same year: a plain first-series solo card and a third-series combination card that pairs Staub with teammate Bob Aspromonte. Both circulated through the season that settled him into the middle of the order for good. He batted .280 with 28 doubles, 13 home runs and 81 RBIs in 153 games, and the Houston baseball writers voted him the team's most valuable player. At 22 he was the best bat on a young expansion club, which is exactly what the combination card says at a glance: two of Houston's most dependable hitters sharing one piece of cardboard.
Daniel Joseph Staub was born in New Orleans on April 1, 1944; a hospital nurse nicknamed him Rusty for the red fuzz on his head, and it stuck for life. A star at Jesuit High School, he signed with the expansion Houston Colt .45s in 1961 for a bonus reported at $100,000 and reached the majors at 19. A left-handed hitter with a patient eye, he grew into a six-time All-Star and one of the game's steadiest run producers, closing 23 seasons with 2,716 hits, 499 doubles, 292 home runs and 1,466 RBIs. Traded to Montreal for the Expos' 1969 debut, he became the club's first star, took French lessons for its fans, and in 1993 was the first Expo to have his number retired. He later played for the Mets, Tigers and Rangers, retiring as the only man with 500 hits for four different franchises. Off the field he ran two Manhattan restaurants and founded funds for the families of New York police and firefighters and for city food pantries. Inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012, he died in 2018 at 73.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 299 | 1 | 13 | 97 | 83 | 42 | 27 | 36 | 0 |
| SGC | 26 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 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 Rusty Staub in this set: #273 Combo
More Houston Astros cards:
- #21 Don Nottebart
- #45 Jim Gentile
- #64 Bob Bruce
- #86 John Bateman
- #122 Joe Gaines
- #147 Lum Harris
- #162 Lee Maye
- #174 Ron Taylor
- #195 Joe Morgan
- #228 Larry Dierker
- #244 Astros 1966 Rookie Stars
- #258 Dave Giusti
- #273 Astro Aces
- #297 Jim Owens
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #106 card?
It is card #106 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rusty Staub 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.