1968 Topps #421 Ron Taylor
About Ron Taylor
Gil Hodges took over as manager and the Mets climbed out of the cellar at 73-89, with Taylor finishing 44 of his 58 games at the back of the bullpen. He went 1-5 with a 2.70 ERA over 76 2/3 innings and tied Jack Hamilton's club record with 13 saves, ranking fourth among National League pitchers in appearances. His homerless streak, which reached 92 innings back into 1967, ended on June 23 when the Dodgers' Ted Savage took him deep in the ninth. Card #421 sits in the fifth 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 | 227 | 3 | 50 | 119 | 33 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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: #401 New York Mets
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- #45 Tom Seaver
- #63 Dick Kenworthy
- #92 Ed Kranepool
- #114 Ron Swoboda
- #132 Bud Harrelson
- #177 Mets 1968 Rookie Stars
- #191 Dan Frisella
- #211 J.C. Martin
- #236 Tug McGraw
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- #292 Art Shamsky
- #313 Al Weis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #421 card?
It is card #421 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Taylor of the New York Mets.
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.