1970 Topps #626 Dave Ricketts
About Dave Ricketts
Pittsburgh acquired Ricketts from St. Louis over the winter along with Dave Giusti, and card #626, from the sixth series, lists him as a Pirate. The 1969 season behind it came to 30 games and 12 hits in 44 at-bats, most of it off the bench. His Pirates summer ran to 14 games with 2 hits in 11 at-bats, and it was the last of his playing career.
David William Ricketts was a bespectacled, switch-hitting catcher who played parts of six major league seasons between 1963 and 1970 for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates. Born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1935, he starred in baseball and basketball at Duquesne University and won a National Invitation Tournament title alongside his older brother Dick. He graduated in 1957 with an education degree he later put to work teaching mathematics and social studies in the offseasons. He signed with St. Louis that June, missed 1958 and 1959 on Army duty, and spent most of a decade in the minors before a .327 year at Tulsa in 1966 finally earned him a big league job he never gave back. He caught behind Tim McCarver on the 1967 world champions, dropped to third catcher once Johnny Edwards arrived in 1968, and was traded to Pittsburgh after the 1969 season. His only home run came off Bob Veale in September 1967. Ricketts then built a second career in uniform, starting as one of the few Black coaches in the game. He coached the Pirates bullpen from 1971 through 1973, including a championship club, and the Cardinals bullpen in 1974-75 and from 1978 through 1991. He died of renal cancer in 2008, a day after his 73rd birthday.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 277 | 4 | 78 | 156 | 32 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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
Team card: #608 Pittsburgh Pirates
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- #30 Matty Alou
- #52 Bruce Dal Canton
- #61 1969 National League Batting Leaders
- #94 Fred Patek
- #110 Bob Moose
- #141 Pirates 1970 Rookie Stars
- #166 Al Oliver
- #188 Manny Sanguillen
- #216 Chuck Hartenstein
- #236 Bob Veale
- #264 Rich Hebner
- #322 Luke Walker
- #350 Roberto Clemente
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #626 card?
It is card #626 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Ricketts of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
How many cards are in the 1970 Topps Baseball set?
720 cards, tracked as 726 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 720 with none skipped, issued in seven series - #1-132, #133-263, #264-372, #373-459, #460-546, #547-633 and the high numbers, #634-720; 6 cards, all of them checklists, carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-25.