1969 Topps #265 Chico Cardenas
About Chico Cardenas
Card #265 in the 1969 Topps set, a series-3 issue, is the first to show Cardenas in a Minnesota uniform, after Cincinnati sent him to the Twins for pitcher Jim Merritt following the 1968 season. The back closes out his Reds file: .235 with seven home runs and 41 RBI in 137 games. Minnesota had run Jackie Hernandez, Rick Renick, Ron Clark and Cesar Tovar through shortstop the year before. Cardenas settled it, hit .280 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI from the bottom of the order and tied an American League record with 570 assists, and the Twins went from 79-83 to 97-65 and the first American League West title.
Leonardo Lazaro Cardenas Alfonso was born December 17, 1938 in Matanzas, Cuba, one of 15 children. He came to the United States in 1956 for a $500 bonus, claiming to be 17 -- the minimum age a major-league team could sign -- when he was 16, and he was among the last Cuban players out before the borders were sealed. Playing for the Havana Sugar Kings in 1959, he was hit by a stray bullet when celebrating fans fired rifles in the grandstand. Cardenas reached Cincinnati on July 25, 1960 and held the Reds' shortstop job for seven seasons, so steady in the field that he was known as Mr. Automatic. Teammates called him Chico, and later Leo. He was a five-time All-Star and won the National League Gold Glove at shortstop in 1965. Traded to Minnesota, he fielded .985 in 1971, the highest mark by an American League shortstop since records began in 1901, and was voted the Twins' most valuable player. He finished with the California Angels, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, batting .257 with 1,725 hits, 118 home runs and 689 RBI over 16 seasons. Cincinnati voted him into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1981.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 183 | 1 | 27 | 88 | 37 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #265 card?
It is card #265 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chico Cardenas of the Minnesota Twins.
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.