1969 Topps #224 Angels Rookie Stars - Bill Harrelson / Steve Kealey
On this card: Bill Harrelson, Steve Kealey
About this card
This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
The story on this card
1969 Topps #224 is a Rookie Stars card from the third print series, pairing Bill Harrelson with fellow Angels pitcher Steve Kealey; it is a recognized rookie card for both players. It followed Harrelson's rookie big league season with California in 1968, when he went 1-6 over ten games including five starts, striking out 22 and earning his only career win with a near no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. By the time this card reached shelves he had already returned to the minors, opening 1969 with the Pacific Coast League's Hawaii Islanders before moving to the Double-A Texas League. A 6-foot-5 switch-hitting right-hander from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who broke in against future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter and nearly no-hit the Yankees for his only major league win in 1968.
Kealey opened 1969 with Triple-A Hawaii before a mid-season call-up to the Angels, where he worked mostly in relief across 15 games. In late August he made his first career start, throwing a seven-hit shutout against the powerful Baltimore Orioles and striking out Frank and Brooks Robinson in the process. He stayed in the rotation for two more turns before returning to the bullpen, finishing the year with a 2-0 record and a 3.93 ERA for California. His 1969 Topps card, number 224 in the third series, is a Rookie Stars multi-player issue shared with fellow pitcher Bill Harrelson, both pictured as Angels, and it stands as Kealey's rookie card. A California-raised reliever who logged parts of six big-league seasons with the Angels and White Sox, best remembered for a shutout debut start against a powerhouse Orioles lineup.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject (Bill Harrelson) · SABR BioProject (Steve Kealey)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 244 | 6 | 51 | 124 | 47 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #224 card?
It is card #224 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Harrelson and Steve Kealey. This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
Is 1969 Topps #224 a rookie card?
Yes - #224 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Bill Harrelson and Steve Kealey.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
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 2026-10-12.