1968 Topps #138 Ruben Amaro
About Ruben Amaro
His 1968 card, #138, is a second-series issue printed on the strength of a real comeback. With Bobby Murcer away on Army service, Amaro reclaimed the Yankee shortstop job in 1967, playing 130 games and taking 417 at-bats, more than in any other season of his career, for 93 hits, 17 RBI and a .223 average. The recovery from knee surgery drew him consideration for American League Comeback Player of the Year.
Ruben Amaro (born Ruben Amaro Mora, January 6, 1936, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) was a slick-fielding shortstop over eleven big-league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1958), Philadelphia Phillies (1960-1965), New York Yankees (1966-1968) and California Angels (1969). Traded to Philadelphia for outfielder Chuck Essegian in December 1958, he took over as the Phillies' regular shortstop in 1960. His defense earned the National League's Gold Glove at shortstop in 1964; his bat left him at .234 with eight home runs in 940 games. In Mexico he was called 'Cangurito' after his father Santos Amaro, the Cuban outfielder whose leaping made him 'El Canguro' in the Mexican League. Amaro scouted, coached and managed for decades afterward, taking a World Series ring as Philadelphia's first-base coach in 1980, and in 1986 he and his father became the first father-son pair in the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. His son Ruben Amaro Jr. reached the majors and later ran the Phillies. He died on March 31, 2017.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 373 | 12 | 111 | 170 | 39 | 18 | 17 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 24 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #138 card?
It is card #138 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ruben Amaro of the New York Yankees.
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.