1968 Topps #552 Ed Kirkpatrick
About Ed Kirkpatrick
Number 552 is a high number, part of the #458-598 block that carries a modest premium in this burlap-bordered set. What the card commemorates is a season that barely happened. The .192 of 1966 sent Kirkpatrick back to the minors, and his 1967 major league record came to three games, eight at-bats, no hits, two of those games spent catching. It is also the last card that shows him as an Angel; that December California traded him away.
Edgar Leon 'Ed' Kirkpatrick was born October 8, 1944, in Spokane, Washington, and grew up in Glendora, California. The Angels signed him as an amateur free agent in 1962, and he debuted on September 13 that year, less than a month short of his eighteenth birthday. Over 16 seasons (1962-1977) he caught and played the outfield for the Los Angeles/California Angels (1962-1968), Kansas City Royals (1969-1973) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1974-1977), closing out 1977 with brief stops in Texas and Milwaukee. He spent five seasons in Kansas City after the Angels dealt him to the expansion club, then went to Pittsburgh in a December 1973 trade and was part of the Pirates teams that won the National League East in 1974 and 1975. He was called 'Spanky' for his resemblance to Little Rascals star Spanky McFarland. He finished with 1,311 games, 824 hits, 85 home runs, 424 RBI and a .238 average. In 1981 a seemingly minor car accident in La Habra, California, produced a blood clot that traveled to his brain; he lay in a coma for five and a half months and was left permanently paralyzed. He died of throat cancer on November 15, 2010, in Mission Viejo, California, at 66.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet · The Hardball Times
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 269 | 11 | 61 | 150 | 32 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 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. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #252 California Angels
More California Angels cards:
- #24 Bobby Locke
- #52 Hawk Taylor
- #75 Don Mincher
- #102 Jose Cardenal
- #121 Jimmie Hall
- #143 Pete Cimino
- #170 Jim Fregosi
- #193 Jack Hamilton
- #216 Bubba Morton
- #238 Tom Satriano
- #271 Bobby Knoop
- #289 Woody Held
- #305 Minnie Rojas
- #328 Angels 1968 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #552 card?
It is card #552 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Kirkpatrick of the California Angels.
Is 1968 Topps #552 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #534-598, by the checklist-card division. The last two series together (#458-598) carry only a modest premium; no short-print list exists.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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.