1969 Topps #160 Vada Pinson
About Vada Pinson
Card #160 is Pinson's first Topps card as a Cardinal, a second-series issue that followed the October 1968 deal sending him to St. Louis for outfielder Bobby Tolan and pitcher Wayne Granger. With Roger Maris retired, he stepped into an outfield beside Lou Brock and Curt Flood, his old McClymonds schoolmate. It reports his last Cincinnati season, when leg injuries and the pitching-choked summer of 1968 held him to .271 with 135 hits and five home runs in 130 games, his fewest homers in any full year as a Red.
Vada Pinson was born in Memphis and raised in Oakland, where he played trumpet in the McClymonds High School band and seriously weighed music as a career until coach George Powles steered him toward baseball. The same school produced Frank Robinson, Curt Flood and Bill Russell. Cincinnati signed Pinson for a $4,000 bonus before his eighteenth birthday, and two minor league seasons later he was the club's center fielder at nineteen. A left-handed hitter who paired speed with power, he became Robinson's roommate and running mate in a lefty-righty duo that tormented National League pitching. Pinson was a four-time All-Star and a Gold Glove center fielder who led NL outfielders in putouts three straight years, and he reached 200 hits four times, batting over .300 in each of those seasons. He is one of the few players with at least 250 home runs and 300 stolen bases, and he held the Reds' career hits record until Pete Rose passed him. Eighteen seasons with Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, California and Kansas City left him 2,757 hits, 485 doubles, 256 home runs and a .286 average. The Reds elected him to their own Hall of Fame in 1977, and he coached for four clubs before a stroke killed him in 1995 at 57.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 319 | 0 | 51 | 160 | 61 | 28 | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 28 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 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 St. Louis Cardinals cards:
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- #10 National League 1968 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1968 Strikeout Leaders
- #18 Dick Schofield
- #39 Dick Hughes
- #60 Nelson Briles
- #85 Lou Brock
- #110 Mike Shannon
- #136 Cardinals 1969 Rookie Stars
- #162 World Series Game #1 - Gibson Fans 17; Sets New Record!
- #164 World Series Game #3 - McCarver's Homer Puts St. Louis Ahead
- #165 World Series Game #4 - Brock's Lead-Off HR Starts Cards' Romp
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #160 card?
It is card #160 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Vada Pinson of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.