1969 Topps #617 Jesse Gonder
About Jesse Gonder
1969 Topps #617 is a high number from the set's seventh series. It lists Jesse Gonder with the expansion San Diego Padres, a club he never played a game for - his last major-league appearance had come back in June 1967. Preston Gomez, his manager with the 1959 Havana Sugar Kings and now the Padres' first skipper, invited the 33-year-old to camp, and Gonder made the Opening Day roster as backup to former Mets teammate Chris Cannizzaro. San Diego released him shortly after the season started without ever using him. He finished the year with the Giants' Triple-A club in Phoenix and retired to Oakland.
Jesse Lemar Gonder (Jan 20, 1936 - Nov 14, 2004) was born in Monticello, Arkansas, and raised in West Oakland, California, where he caught for coach George Powles at McClymonds High School, the program that also produced Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Curt Flood. A left-handed hitter, he signed with Cincinnati in 1955 and worked his way through the minors - Mexico, the Havana Sugar Kings, Triple-A Richmond - before debuting with the New York Yankees in September 1960; his first big-league hit was a pinch home run. Over eight seasons with the Yankees, Reds, Mets, Braves and Pirates he batted .251 with 220 hits, 26 home runs and 94 RBIs in 876 at-bats. The bat was never the question: in 1962 he won the Pacific Coast League batting title and RBI crown and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. His catching drew constant criticism, which he disputed all his life. After he complained about the segregated spring-training lodging he and his Black teammates faced in Florida, Cincinnati became the first club to integrate player housing there - and Gonder was tagged a troublemaker, a label he believed cut his career short. He drove a Bay Area transit bus for more than 20 years and died in Oakland in 2004.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 252 | 8 | 47 | 147 | 29 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 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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Related cards
More San Diego Padres cards:
- #14 Al McBean
- #38 Zoilo Versalles
- #74 Preston Gomez
- #98 Dave Giusti
- #129 Bill McCool
- #149 Ollie Brown
- #184 Roberto Pena
- #197 Dick Selma
- #223 Tom Dukes
- #249 Ed Spiezio
- #271 Larry Stahl
- #304 Padres 1969 Rookie Stars
- #333 Ivan Murrell
- #359 Dick Kelley
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #617 card?
It is card #617 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jesse Gonder of the San Diego Padres.
Why is #617 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #589-664 - the scarce end of the set.
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.