1969 Topps #120 Pete Rose
About Pete Rose
Rose turns up three times in the 1969 set. Card #2, in the League Leaders group that opens series one, sets his 1968 batting title beside the Alou brothers, Matty and Felipe. Card #120, in series two, is his own card. Card #424, in series four, places him in the Sporting News All-Star subset. Then he went out and beat all of it: a career-best .348, good enough to hold off Roberto Clemente's .345 on the last day of the season, plus 218 hits, 88 walks, a league-leading 120 runs (shared with Bobby Bonds), 16 home runs to match his career high, and the first of his two Gold Gloves.
Peter Edward Rose Sr. (April 14, 1941 - September 30, 2024) grew up in Cincinnati and signed with his hometown Reds out of Western Hills High School in 1960, at the urging of his uncle Buddy Bloebaum, a bird-dog scout for the club. He reached the majors in 1963 and won National League Rookie of the Year, by then already carrying the nickname Charlie Hustle. A switch-hitter who played 24 seasons for the Reds, Phillies and Expos, he came up at second base and later worked in left field, right field, third base and first base, making 17 All-Star teams at an unequaled five different positions. He was the leadoff man and the engine of the Big Red Machine, taking the 1973 NL MVP award, three batting titles, two Gold Gloves and back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, then a third with the 1980 Phillies. On September 11, 1985, as Reds player-manager, he passed Ty Cobb, and he left the game with 4,256 hits, 3,562 games and 14,053 at-bats, all still records. He managed Cincinnati until August 1989, when a gambling investigation put him on baseball's permanently ineligible list. The Reds Hall of Fame took him in 2016, and Major League Baseball removed him from that list posthumously in May 2025.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · MLB.com
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 6,158 | 7 | 114 | 879 | 1,101 | 1,213 | 951 | 1,875 | 18 |
| SGC | 2,115 | 0 | 14 | 115 | 324 | 422 | 486 | 732 | 22 |
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 Pete Rose in this set: #2 League Leaders, #424 Sporting News All-Stars
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #2 National League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #26 Clay Carroll
- #70 Tommy Helms
- #81 Mel Queen
- #95 Johnny Bench
- #142 Woody Woodward
- #187 Leon Wagner
- #213 Gerry Arrigo
- #234 Dave Bristol
- #259 Bill Short
- #280 Alex Johnson
- #295 Tony Perez
- #318 Jack Fisher
- #339 Reds 1969 Rookie Stars
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #120 card?
It is card #120 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds.
What are the key cards in the 1969 Topps set?
The #500 Mickey Mantle - his last Topps card as an active player, printed with his name in yellow letters and, far scarcer, in white letters - is the grail of the set, and the #260 Reggie Jackson rookie card is its headline rookie. The other major keys are #50 Bob Clemente (printed "Bob" on the front), #95 Johnny Bench, #100 Hank Aaron, #120 Pete Rose, #190 Willie Mays, #480 Tom Seaver, #533 Nolan Ryan (his first solo card; the rookie is 1968 #177) and #597 AL Rookie Stars with Rollie Fingers. The high numbers (#589-664) are the hardest run in 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.