1969 Topps #585 Ron Swoboda
About Ron Swoboda
Card #585 comes from the sixth series of 1969, inside the set's run of regular numbers rather than the high series. Hodges platooned Swoboda that year, cutting him to 109 games and 327 at-bats, but September belonged to him: a grand slam that beat Pittsburgh on the 13th, then two two-run homers off Steve Carlton two nights later, the night Carlton struck out a record 19 Mets and lost 4-3. He sat out the sweep of Atlanta, then went 6-for-15 in the World Series.
Ron Swoboda came out of Baltimore's Sparrows Point High School and one year at the University of Maryland, signing with the Mets in September 1963 for $35,000 after a strong showing in the AAABA tournament. He made the big club out of spring training in 1965 at age 20 and hit 19 home runs as a rookie, a Mets rookie record that stood until Darryl Strawberry hit 26 in 1983, and earned a place on the 1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. He picked up the nickname Rocky for his less-than-reliable fielding, though his arm was strong and accurate. He was the Mets' left fielder in 1965 and 1966, moved to first base and then right field in 1967 when Tommy Davis arrived, and batted a career-best .281 that season. Platooned during the 1969 championship year, he collected six hits in 15 World Series at-bats against Baltimore and drove in the winning run in the clinching fifth game, but he is remembered for the backhanded diving catch off Brooks Robinson that saved Game 4. Traded to Montreal in March 1971 and on to the Yankees that June, he finished with a .242 average, 73 homers and 344 RBI over nine seasons, then spent decades as a television sportscaster in New York, Milwaukee and New Orleans.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 508 | 2 | 130 | 267 | 80 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #585 card?
It is card #585 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Swoboda of the New York Mets.
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.