1969 Topps #598 Ruben Amaro
About Ruben Amaro
Amaro's last card of the decade, #598, belongs to the seventh and final series of the 1969 set, the high numbers that close its 664-card checklist. It shows him with the California Angels, who bought his contract from the Yankees for $25,000 in November 1968 after a season spent as a Yankee reserve: 47 games, 41 at-bats, five hits. He played 41 games for California in 1969, mentored young countryman Aurelio Rodriguez, and was released that fall.
Ruben Amaro (born Ruben Amaro Mora, January 6, 1936, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) was a slick-fielding shortstop over eleven big-league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1958), Philadelphia Phillies (1960-1965), New York Yankees (1966-1968) and California Angels (1969). Traded to Philadelphia for outfielder Chuck Essegian in December 1958, he took over as the Phillies' regular shortstop in 1960. His defense earned the National League's Gold Glove at shortstop in 1964; his bat left him at .234 with eight home runs in 940 games. In Mexico he was called 'Cangurito' after his father Santos Amaro, the Cuban outfielder whose leaping made him 'El Canguro' in the Mexican League. Amaro scouted, coached and managed for decades afterward, taking a World Series ring as Philadelphia's first-base coach in 1980, and in 1986 he and his father became the first father-son pair in the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. His son Ruben Amaro Jr. reached the majors and later ran the Phillies. He died on March 31, 2017.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 185 | 1 | 21 | 102 | 40 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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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- #59 Jay Johnstone
- #78 Tom Satriano
- #103 Roger Repoz
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- #182 Bill Rigney
- #205 Rick Reichardt
- #224 Angels 1969 Rookie Stars
- #252 Chuck Cottier
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- #296 Andy Messersmith
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #598 card?
It is card #598 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ruben Amaro of the California Angels.
Why is #598 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.