1969 Topps #131 Chris Cannizzaro
About Chris Cannizzaro
Card #131, a second-series issue, still shows Cannizzaro with Pittsburgh, and the season behind it is a 25-game cameo that ended two full years out of the majors. Jerry May's second-half slump and a six-RBI night for Triple-A Columbus got him recalled in August, and on the 17th he hit the first home run of his major league career, a blow that carried the Pirates to a 3-0 win over the Dodgers. Two weeks later he singled home the winning run in the tenth against Houston, and he closed the year at .241 in 58 at-bats. On March 28, 1969 Pittsburgh shipped him with Tommie Sisk to San Diego, the trade he later called the biggest break of his career.
Christopher John Cannizzaro was a defense-first catcher who spent 13 major league seasons (1960-1974) with six clubs after the Cardinals signed him out of San Leandro High School in 1956. He debuted on April 17, 1960, facing Sandy Koufax in his first at-bat. Steady work came only through the league's two expansion clubs: the Mets took him 26th overall in the October 1961 expansion draft, and San Diego made him its everyday catcher in 1969. Cannizzaro caught the Padres' first game, a 2-1 win over Houston on April 8, 1969, and became the franchise's first All-Star. Never much of a hitter -- .235 with 18 home runs and 169 RBIs in 740 games -- he was prized for an arm that led the majors in caught-stealing percentage in 1962 and again in 1965. Casey Stengel called him "Canzoneri," apparently thinking of the 1930s boxer Tony Canzoneri. He later caught for the Cubs and Dodgers, coached Atlanta's bullpen from 1976 to 1978, then managed in the Angels' Class A chain. He died in San Diego on December 29, 2016.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 226 | 6 | 40 | 118 | 41 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 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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Related cards
More Pittsburgh Pirates cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #8 National League 1968 ERA Leaders
- #36 Luke Walker
- #50 Bob Clemente
- #82 Pirates 1969 Rookie Stars
- #104 Steve Blass
- #152 Tommie Sisk
- #175 Jim Bunning
- #192 Jose Pagan
- #219 Freddie Patek
- #243 Ron Kline
- #263 Jerry May
- #286 Dock Ellis
- #307 Gary Kolb
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #131 card?
It is card #131 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chris Cannizzaro of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.