1969 Topps #421 Brooks Robinson
About this card
Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
About Brooks Robinson
Both 1969 cards report a 1968 played out in the Year of the Pitcher. Robinson appeared in all 162 games and batted .253 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs, still good for a ninth straight All-Star selection and another Gold Glove, while a midsummer slump cost Hank Bauer his job and brought Earl Weaver in to manage. Card #421 is his Sporting News All-Star card from the fourth series, and #550 is his regular card from the sixth.
Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. spent his entire 23-year career (1955-1977) at third base for the Baltimore Orioles, the club that signed him out of Little Rock, Arkansas for $4,000 in 1955. Lee May tagged him the Human Vacuum Cleaner during the 1970 World Series, and he is generally regarded as the greatest fielding third baseman in major-league history: an 18-time All-Star across 15 straight seasons (1960-1974) and the winner of 16 consecutive Gold Gloves (1960-1975), the most by any position player. He still holds the career records for a third baseman in putouts, assists, total chances and double plays. He was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1964, batting .317 with 28 home runs and a league-best 118 RBIs, and he anchored Baltimore's rise to four AL pennants and two World Series titles, in 1966 and 1970. His glovework in the 1970 Series against Cincinnati, where he robbed the Reds again and again while batting .429, earned him the Series MVP award. He finished with a .267 average, 2,848 hits, 268 home runs and 1,357 RBIs, all in Baltimore -- a single-franchise run since matched only by Carl Yastrzemski. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1983 on the first ballot, named on 92 percent of the ballots.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 674 | 4 | 25 | 199 | 139 | 110 | 73 | 118 | 6 |
| SGC | 110 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 26 | 21 | 29 | 19 | 6 |
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 Brooks Robinson in this set: #550
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #7 American League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #9 American League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Boog Powell
- #37 Curt Motton
- #66 Orioles 1969 Rookie Stars
- #86 Pete Richert
- #113 Dave May
- #141 Bill Dillman
- #151 Clay Dalrymple
- #185 Tom Phoebus
- #203 Dave Johnson
- #228 Dave Leonhard
- #250 Frank Robinson
- #277 Rod Hendricks
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #421 card?
It is card #421 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles. Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
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.