1970 Topps #431 Ron Swoboda
About Ron Swoboda
Swoboda finished 1969 with nine home runs and 52 RBI. That Mets club won 100 games and took the NL East by eight games over the Cubs. The right-field entrance gate at Citi Field features a metal silhouette of a player making a diving catch similar to the one Swoboda made in the 1969 World Series. Card #431 is a fourth-series issue that shows him with the Mets.
Ron Swoboda came out of Baltimore's Sparrows Point High School and one year at the University of Maryland, signing with the Mets in September 1963 for $35,000 after a strong showing in the AAABA tournament. He made the big club out of spring training in 1965 at age 20. His 19 home runs in 1965 stood as the Mets rookie record until Darryl Strawberry hit 26 in 1983, and he earned a place on the 1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. He picked up the nickname Rocky in his early Mets years for his uneven fielding, though his arm was strong and accurate. He was the Mets' left fielder in 1965 and 1966, moved to first base and then right field in 1967 when Tommy Davis arrived, and batted a career-best .281 that season. Platooned during the 1969 championship year, he collected six hits in 15 World Series at-bats against Baltimore and drove in the winning run in the clinching fifth game. He is remembered for the backhanded diving catch off Brooks Robinson that saved Game 4. He went to Montreal in a March 1971 trade and on to the Yankees that June, finishing with a .242 average, 73 homers and 344 RBI over nine seasons. He later worked as a television sportscaster in New York, Milwaukee and New Orleans.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 366 | 10 | 86 | 212 | 37 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #431 card?
It is card #431 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ron Swoboda of the New York Mets.
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.