1969 Topps #252 Chuck Cottier
About Chuck Cottier
Washington sold Cottier to the Angels in February 1967 after his 1965 season came down to seven games and a single at-bat, and he spent 1966 and 1967 out of the majors entirely. He resurfaced in 1968: 33 games for California, most of them at third base rather than his old post at second, 13 hits and a .194 average. #252, from the third series, arrives off that comeback. It did not last. Cottier got two hitless at-bats in 1969, played his final game on May 9, and an Achilles tendon injury closed out nine big-league seasons that month.
Charles Keith Cottier was a good-fielding, light-hitting infielder who spent nine seasons in the majors between 1959 and 1969 with the Milwaukee Braves, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and California Angels. Born January 8, 1936 in Delta, Colorado, he lettered in four sports at Grand Junction High School - baseball, basketball, football and wrestling - and signed with the Baltimore Orioles organization in 1954. He broke in with Milwaukee in 1959 and found steady work only after a June 1961 trade to the expansion Washington Senators, where he held second base into 1965. He finished with a .220 average, 348 hits, 63 doubles, 17 triples, 19 home runs and 127 runs batted in over 580 games, and an overall .973 fielding percentage. An Achilles tendon injury in May 1969 ended his playing career with the Angels. Cottier began managing in the minors in 1971 and coached for the Mets and Mariners before taking over Seattle as interim manager on September 1, 1984; he managed the club through 1985 and 28 games of 1986, finishing 98-119. He later coached the Cubs, Orioles and Phillies, scouted for the Yankees and served as a special assistant to the Nationals' general manager. He died February 1, 2021 in Edmonds, Washington, at 85.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 189 | 2 | 29 | 96 | 44 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 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 #252 card?
It is card #252 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chuck Cottier of the California Angels.
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.