1969 Topps #420 Ron Santo
About this card
Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
About Ron Santo
Santo's three cards here report a grinding 1968, the Year of the Pitcher: .246 with 26 home runs and 98 RBI, a league-leading 96 walks, another All-Star selection and a fifth straight Gold Glove, the last one he would win. The first-series #4 lists him on the National League runs batted in leaders card behind Willie McCovey's 105 and alongside Billy Williams. The series-four #420 is a Sporting News All-Star card, and the series-six #570 is his final base card of the decade.
Ron Santo played third base for the Chicago Cubs from 1960 through 1973 and finished with the crosstown White Sox in 1974. Born in Seattle in 1940, he signed with the Cubs as a free agent in 1959 for a $20,000 bonus and reached the majors a year and three months later. He became the National League's best third baseman of the decade: nine All-Star selections, five straight Gold Gloves from 1964 through 1968, and a bat that produced a .300 average and 30 home runs four times each. From 1963 through 1970 he drove in at least 90 runs eight years running, still the only third baseman in major league history to do it. He led the league in walks four times and set National League career records for assists, total chances and double plays at the position. Santo played the whole time with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed at 18 and kept quiet until a day held in his honor at Wrigley Field in August 1971; the disease later cost him both legs. He called Cubs games on WGN radio from 1990 until his death in 2010 and helped raise tens of millions of dollars for diabetes research. The Golden Era Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in December 2011; he was inducted in 2012.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 619 | 10 | 91 | 271 | 102 | 60 | 40 | 45 | 0 |
| SGC | 38 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 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 Ron Santo in this set: #4 League Leaders, #570
More Chicago Cubs cards:
- #4 National League 1968 RBI Leaders
- #6 National League 1968 Home Run Leaders
- #10 National League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1968 Strikeout Leaders
- #20 Ernie Banks
- #43 Joe Niekro
- #63 Jim Hickman
- #88 Rich Nye
- #115 Bill Hands
- #147 Leo Durocher
- #171 Glenn Beckert
- #198 Willie Smith
- #225 Don Kessinger
- #247 Gene Oliver
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #420 card?
It is card #420 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs. Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
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.