1969 Topps #499 Astros Rookie Stars - Don Bryant / Steve Shea
On this card: Don Bryant, Steve Shea
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
Bryant split 1969 between Houston and its minor-league affiliate, batting .186 with a home run and six RBIs in 31 games as the Astros' backup catcher. On May 1 he caught Don Wilson's no-hitter against the Reds, then homered two days later off Bobby Bolin for the winning run. This Rookie Stars card, printed in Topps' fifth series, pairs him with fellow Astros hopeful Steve Shea. Don Bryant, a 6-foot-5 catcher nicknamed "Bear," caught Don Wilson's 1969 no-hitter for Houston and later coached Boston's pennant-winning 1975 staff after a playing career with the Cubs, Astros and Red Sox organizations.
Sold to the expansion Montreal Expos on the eve of their first season, Shea worked out of the bullpen and pitched in Montreal's second game in franchise history, throwing scoreless relief against the Mets. He appeared in ten games for the Expos that year with a strong ERA before being sent down. Card #499, from the fifth print series, is a Rookie Stars subset issue representing the Astros, it pairs him with Don Bryant and is a recognized rookie card for both players pictured. Right-handed reliever for the 1968 Astros and 1969 Expos who later became a bank president and founded an education foundation for Central Asian students in retirement.
Sources: Wikipedia (Don Bryant) · Wikipedia (Steve Shea) · SABR BioProject
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 256 | 3 | 40 | 128 | 59 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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.
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Related cards
More Houston Astros cards:
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- #58 Fred Gladding
- #76 Norm Miller
- #96 Denver Lemaster
- #119 Doug Rader
- #156 Astros 1969 Rookie Stars
- #186 John Edwards
- #202 Don Wilson
- #208 Donn Clendenon
- #257 Jim Ray
- #278 Gary Geiger
- #308 Wade Blasingame
- #337 Marty Martinez
- #360 Jim Wynn
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #499 card?
It is card #499 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Bryant and Steve Shea. 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 #499 a rookie card?
Yes - #499 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Don Bryant and Steve Shea.
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.