1969 Topps #501 Tony Gonzalez
About Tony Gonzalez
Card #501 lists Gonzalez with the expansion San Diego Padres, who took him 37th overall in the draft that stocked the new clubs after the Phillies left him unprotected. The back reports his last Philadelphia season, .264 with three home runs in 121 games. The card comes two ways: the common state prints his first name in yellow, and the scarcer state prints it in white, one of the name-color pairs running through the fifth series from #440 to #511.
Andres Antonio "Tony" Gonzalez was a Cuban-born outfielder who spent nine of his twelve big-league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and was their primary center fielder for five of them. He built his strength hoisting 250-pound sacks of sugar during Cuba's cane season, signed with Cincinnati for ten dollars and a bus ticket to Havana, and reached the majors in 1960. The 5-foot-9 left-handed hitter was called "Little Dynamite" for the way the ball came off his bat. In 1962 he became the first everyday big-league center fielder to play an errorless season, and in 1967 he batted .339, second in the National League to Roberto Clemente, yet he was never an All-Star. Repeated beanings troubled his eyes and brought him the first big-league batting helmet with a pre-molded ear flap, in 1964. Dealt to Atlanta in June 1969, he hit .357 in that year's Championship Series with a home run off Tom Seaver. His major-league line closed at 1,485 hits and a .286 average; he played on in Mexico and Japan in 1972, then coached in the Phillies' and Angels' farm systems. The Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, run in exile in Miami, inducted him in 1985. He died July 2, 2021, at 84.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Cardboard Connection
Print variations
Two states of #501 are tracked individually: 501a - First Name In Yellow and 501b - First Name In White. The difference is on the front of the card (name color).
States catalogued by the PSA master set registry and the Trading Card Database; each is tracked here individually.
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Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 501a - First Name In Yellow | |||||||||
| PSA | 218 | 1 | 22 | 101 | 50 | 26 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 501b - First Name In White | |||||||||
| PSA | 122 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 34 | 26 | 21 | 28 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 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. Where a grader registers a variation separately its population is listed under that variation.
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Related cards
More San Diego Padres cards:
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- #38 Zoilo Versalles
- #74 Preston Gomez
- #98 Dave Giusti
- #129 Bill McCool
- #149 Ollie Brown
- #184 Roberto Pena
- #197 Dick Selma
- #223 Tom Dukes
- #249 Ed Spiezio
- #271 Larry Stahl
- #304 Padres 1969 Rookie Stars
- #333 Ivan Murrell
- #359 Dick Kelley
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #501 card?
It is card #501 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres.
Does 1969 Topps #501 have variations?
Yes. Two states are catalogued and tracked individually: 501a - First Name In Yellow ("Tony" prints in yellow letters on the front - the common state of this fifth-series card) and 501b - First Name In White ("Tony" prints in white letters - the scarce state of the pair; white letters are the premium side on all 23 of the set's name-color variations (#440-511)). Owning any one of them fills the #501 slot; the master set counts each state.
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.