1969 Topps #215 Rico Petrocelli
About Rico Petrocelli
1969 Topps #215 is a second-series card. It follows his 1968 season, a difficult year in which recurring elbow trouble limited him to 123 games and a .234 average with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs at shortstop. He rebounded in 1969 to set a shortstop home run record with 40.
Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli was born June 27, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of seven children of Italian immigrant parents. He signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1961 and reached the majors for a single September game in 1963 before taking over as Boston's starting shortstop in 1965. A two-time All-Star, he set what was then a league record for home runs by a shortstop with 40 in 1969, and helped anchor Boston's 1967 "Impossible Dream" pennant club and 1975 American League champions. In 1971 he moved to third base to make room for Luis Aparicio, and led American League third basemen in fielding percentage that year. Over 13 seasons, all with Boston, he hit 210 home runs with 773 RBIs and a .251 average in 1,553 games. He played in the 1967 and 1975 World Series and the 1975 American League Championship Series. After retiring in 1976 he worked in broadcasting and managed in the minor leagues for the White Sox and Red Sox organizations. He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997, a team honor separate from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, to which he has not been elected.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 286 | 1 | 26 | 110 | 78 | 31 | 19 | 21 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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 Boston Red Sox cards:
- #1 American League 1968 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1968 RBI Leaders
- #5 American League 1968 Home Run Leaders
- #21 Jose Santiago
- #52 Mike Andrews
- #89 Russ Gibson
- #109 Jim Lonborg
- #130 Carl Yastrzemski
- #148 Lee Stange
- #172 Jerry Stephenson
- #189 Red Sox 1969 Rookie Stars
- #240 Ken Harrelson
- #264 Bill Landis
- #287 Jose Tartabull
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #215 card?
It is card #215 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rico Petrocelli of the Boston Red Sox.
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.