1967 Topps #524 Felix Mantilla
About Felix Mantilla
Card #524, from the sixth series, gives Mantilla a Chicago Cubs card for a season he never played. The Cubs signed him on February 9, 1967, but he tore his Achilles tendon in a spring-training timing drill, needed surgery, and was released on July 6 without appearing in a game. He returned to their camp as a non-roster player in 1968 and never got into another major-league game.
Felix Mantilla, called El Gato, the Cat, for his agility, was born July 29, 1934, in Isabela, Puerto Rico, and was playing organized ball there by age nine. He was on the Puerto Rican team that won the 1951 Amateur World Series, signed with the Boston Braves in 1952 for a $400 bonus, and in 1953 joined Hank Aaron and Horace Garner in integrating the Jacksonville Braves of the South Atlantic League, where the three shared a home in a segregated city and were booed for their color. He debuted with Milwaukee on June 21, 1956, and over eleven seasons played every position but pitcher and catcher. He won the 1957 World Series and returned to the Series in 1958. On May 26, 1959, he led off the thirteenth inning by reaching on Don Hoak's throwing error, ending Harvey Haddix's twelve perfect innings, then scored the winning run on Joe Adcock's drive. He finished at .261 with 89 home runs and 330 RBI, helped found the Felix Mantilla Little League in Milwaukee in 1972, and was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame. He died January 10, 2025, at 90.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 235 | 2 | 28 | 107 | 55 | 30 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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. PSA registers a row for every one of the 624 states; SGC lists no separate row for the #149 white-streak state.
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Related cards
Team card: #354 Chicago Cubs
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- #39 Curt Simmons
- #70 Ron Santo
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- #106 Randy Hundley
- #124 Jim Stewart
- #148 Adolfo Phillips
- #168 Ray Culp
- #171 Calvin Koonce
- #185 Ken Holtzman
- #215 Ernie Banks
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- #272 Cubs 1967 Rookie Stars
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #524 card?
It is card #524 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Felix Mantilla of the Chicago Cubs.
Why is #524 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series, #458-533 - noticeably tougher than the first five.
How many cards are in the 1967 Topps Baseball set?
609 cards, tracked as 624 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 609 without a gap - no number was skipped and none was used twice - and 15 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-12.