1970 Topps #552 Royals Rookie Stars - Don O'Riley / Dennis Paepke / Fred Rico
On this card: Don O'Riley, Dennis Paepke, Fred Rico
About this card
This is one of the forty Rookie Stars cards, each showing two or three rookies from one club; #654 (National League) and #702 (American League) each mix three clubs. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #36, #74, #109, #154, #267, #317, #429, #573, #669 and #683 one of them had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
The story on this card
O'Riley pitched nine games for Kansas City in 1970, two of them starts, and went 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. He struck out 13 in 23 1/3 innings. His card is #552, a sixth-series Rookie Stars card shared with Royals teammates Dennis Paepke and Fred Rico, and it is the rookie card for all three. Don O'Riley, a right-handed pitcher from Topeka, threw 46 2/3 innings for the 1969 and 1970 Kansas City Royals before being traded with Pat Kelly to the White Sox in October 1970. He died in 1997 at age 52.
Paepke shares card #552 with fellow Kansas City Royals prospects Don O'Riley and Fred Rico in the Rookie Stars subset, and it is the rookie card for all three. Printed in the sixth series, it followed his 1969 callup from Triple-A Omaha, when he caught eight of his 12 games for Kansas City and went 3-for-27. The 1970 season itself was spent entirely at Omaha, and he did not return to Kansas City until 1971. Dennis Paepke was a Long Beach-born catcher who played four seasons for the Kansas City Royals between 1969 and 1974, while splitting those years with the Triple-A Omaha club.
Rico shared Rookie Stars card #552 with fellow Royals Don O'Riley and Dennis Paepke, the rookie card for all three men, in the sixth series of 1970. He started seven of the 12 games he played for Kansas City in September 1969. Fred Rico, an outfielder, played 12 games for the 1969 Kansas City Royals after a September call-up from Omaha, hitting .231 with nine walks. The Royals traded him to the Cardinals organization for Cookie Rojas in June 1970.
Sources: Wikipedia (Don O'Riley) · Wikipedia (Dennis Paepke) · Wikipedia (Fred Rico) · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 153 | 0 | 28 | 87 | 24 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 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: #422 Kansas City Royals
More Kansas City Royals cards:
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- #37 Dick Drago
- #57 Pat Kelly
- #89 Juan Rios
- #108 Tom Burgmeier
- #165 Ed Kirkpatrick
- #187 Mike Hedlund
- #222 Jim Rooker
- #241 Royals 1970 Rookie Stars
- #266 Wally Bunker
- #321 Lou Piniella
- #338 Paul Schaal
- #354 Amos Otis
- #377 Bill Butler
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1970 Topps #552 card?
It is card #552 of the 720-card 1970 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don O'Riley, Dennis Paepke and Fred Rico. This is one of the forty Rookie Stars cards, each showing two or three rookies from one club; #654 (National League) and #702 (American League) each mix three clubs. A Rookie Stars card is a rookie card for the players on it who had no earlier Topps flagship card - on #36, #74, #109, #154, #267, #317, #429, #573, #669 and #683 one of them had already appeared on one, and the rookie-card answer on each card names the players it counts for.
Is 1970 Topps #552 a rookie card?
Yes - #552 is a rookie card for every player pictured on it: Don O'Riley, Dennis Paepke and Fred Rico.
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.