1969 Topps #636 Woodie Held
About Woodie Held
Number 636 is one of the seventh-series high numbers that closed out the 1969 set. It shows Held with the White Sox, who got him from the Angels on July 20, 1968, in exchange for Wayne Causey. By then he was a bench piece and little else: 56 games in 1969 brought only 63 at-bats and a .143 average. His last big-league appearance came on September 28, 1969, and Chicago released him on October 15, ending a 14-year career spread over seven clubs.
Woodson George Held was born March 25, 1932, in Sacramento, California, where he spent three seasons as batboy for the Pacific Coast League's Sacramento Solons and played every position but catcher over four varsity years at Sacramento High School. The family name was originally Heldt, changed to Held because people kept mispronouncing it. Yankees scout Joe Devine signed him for a $6,000 bonus in 1951, and he debuted as a September call-up in 1954. Traded to Kansas City in June 1957, he became the Athletics' starting center fielder and hit 20 home runs; exactly one year later he went to Cleveland in the deal that sent Roger Maris the other way. Manager Joe Gordon put him at shortstop, where Held became the first Indians shortstop to hit 20 homers in a season and did it three years running. He later filled in for Washington, Baltimore, California and Chicago, ending up with more than 100 career games at shortstop, second base, third base and all three outfield spots. He retired after 1969 at .240 with 179 home runs and 559 RBIs, ran a dude ranch at Dubois, Wyoming, and died there in 2009.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 312 | 7 | 76 | 166 | 39 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 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
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #34 Gary Peters
- #54 Cisco Carlos
- #75 Luis Aparicio
- #97 Buddy Bradford
- #123 Wilbur Wood
- #155 Pete Ward
- #173 White Sox 1969 Rookie Stars
- #179 Don Pavletich
- #222 Duane Josephson
- #248 Bob Priddy
- #283 Sandy Alomar
- #309 Walt Williams
- #328 Joe Horlen
- #363 Russ Nixon
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #636 card?
It is card #636 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Woodie Held of the Chicago White Sox.
Why is #636 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.