1966 Topps #72 Tony Perez
About Tony Perez
Card #72 lands early in the 1966 set, a first-series card that wears the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy in its corner for his selection to that 1965 team. The season behind it was his first extended look: 104 games, a .260 average, 12 home runs and 47 runs batted in, splitting time at first base with Gordy Coleman. It turns up far more easily than the 1965 card does.
Tony Perez, born Atanasio Perez Rigal in 1942 in Cuba's Camaguey province, grew up working beside his father in a sugar mill and playing shortstop for the factory team. Cincinnati signed him in 1960 for no bonus beyond a plane ticket and a $2.50 exit visa. Erratic throwing pushed him off third base in the minors, and he was a first baseman when he won the Pacific Coast League's Most Valuable Player award at Triple-A San Diego in 1964. Moved back to third base in 1967 to make room for Lee May, he became the run producer at the center of the Big Red Machine, driving in 90 or more runs in eleven straight seasons and averaging better than 100 a year from 1970 through 1976. Teammates called him Big Dog. A seven-time All-Star, he hit the two-run homer off Bill Lee that began Cincinnati's comeback in Game Seven of the 1975 World Series, and won a second title in 1976. He moved on to Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia before closing his career with three more Cincinnati seasons through 1986: 2,732 hits, 379 home runs, 1,652 runs batted in. He later managed the Reds and the Marlins, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,516 | 0 | 23 | 165 | 254 | 296 | 264 | 512 | 2 |
| SGC | 438 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 37 | 69 | 107 | 207 | 12 |
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: #59 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #12 John Tsitouris
- #30 Pete Rose
- #89 Ted Davidson
- #119 Art Shamsky
- #140 Jim Maloney
- #159 Chico Ruiz
- #180 Vada Pinson
- #196 Don Pavletich
- #214 Tommy Harper
- #219 National League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #233 Dom Zanni
- #250 Sam Ellis
- #269 Don Heffner
- #272 Jack Baldschun
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #72 card?
It is card #72 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Perez of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.