1969 Topps #628 Red Sox Rookie Stars - Bill Conigliaro / Syd O'Brien / Fred Wenz
On this card: Bill Conigliaro, Syd O'Brien, Fred Wenz
About this card
This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
The story on this card
Conigliaro debuted with the Red Sox on April 11, 1969, and hit two home runs in his first start five days later. He batted .287 with 4 home runs and 7 RBI in 32 games as a part-time outfielder that rookie season, playing alongside older brother Tony in the Boston outfield. This high-number card is a shared Rookie Stars issue in the 1969 Topps seventh series, picturing Conigliaro with Boston teammates Syd O'Brien and Fred Wenz; it is recognized as his rookie card. Younger brother of Tony Conigliaro, the Red Sox outfielder combined with Tony for a then-record 54 brother home runs in 1970 before finishing his career with Milwaukee and Oakland.
O'Brien made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 1969 at age 25, pinch hitting for Fred Wenz in the eighth inning against Baltimore, and went on to split infield time between third base and shortstop as a rookie. He finished the year with five triples, ninth-most in the American League. His card, number 628 in the 1969 Topps set, is a Rookie Stars subset issue from the seventh series, a recognized rookie card that pairs O'Brien with fellow Red Sox rookies Bill Conigliaro and Fred Wenz. A Compton-born infielder who broke in with Boston in 1969, O'Brien bounced from third base to shortstop across four AL clubs in a four-year career.
Card #628 is a Rookie Stars card from the high-number series (print series 7), shared by three players representing the Boston Red Sox: Bill Conigliaro, Syd O'Brien, and Fred Wenz. Wenz relieved in eight games for Boston that year, picking up his first career win on May 3 against Detroit, when he worked three innings, allowing only a solo homer to Al Kaline, and scored the go-ahead run himself on a Tony Conigliaro squeeze bunt. A hard-throwing reliever nicknamed Fireball, Fred Wenz spent nine years in the minors before pitching for the Red Sox and Phillies from 1968 to 1970.
Sources: Wikipedia (Syd O'Brien) · Wikipedia (Fred Wenz) · SABR BioProject (Billy Conigliaro) · SABR BioProject (Fred Wenz)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 427 | 1 | 84 | 221 | 77 | 28 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 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
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- #3 American League 1968 RBI Leaders
- #5 American League 1968 Home Run Leaders
- #21 Jose Santiago
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- #89 Russ Gibson
- #109 Jim Lonborg
- #130 Carl Yastrzemski
- #148 Lee Stange
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #628 card?
It is card #628 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Conigliaro, Syd O'Brien and Fred Wenz. This is one of the 52 Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set, each carrying two or three young players under a club or league title. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card only for the players pictured who had no earlier Topps flagship card - the rookie-card answer on each card names them.
Is 1969 Topps #628 a rookie card?
Yes - #628 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Bill Conigliaro, Syd O'Brien and Fred Wenz.
Why is #628 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.