1971 Topps #605 Orlando Cepeda
About Orlando Cepeda
Cepeda's 1971 card, #605, comes from the fifth series and shows him with Atlanta. In 1970 he played all 148 of his games at first base and collected 173 hits. In 1971 he started fast, then hurt a knee again at home and slipped into part-time duty, playing 71 games. He hit .276 with 14 home runs and 44 RBI. He had surgery in New York that September, and in June 1972 the Braves traded him to Oakland for Denny McLain.
Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes was the son of Pedro "Perucho" Cepeda, a Puerto Rican star known at home as the Bull, which made the son the Baby Bull. He passed a New York Giants tryout camp in 1955 and signed for a $500 bonus. He reached the majors with the San Francisco Giants in the franchise's first West Coast season and was voted National League Rookie of the Year unanimously, hitting .312 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 38 doubles. A free-swinging right-handed first baseman, he led the league in home runs once and in runs batted in twice, and was an All-Star in seven seasons. Knee trouble that started with a boyhood basketball injury shadowed the rest of his career, costing him most of one season and finally his place in San Francisco. Traded to St. Louis for pitcher Ray Sadecki, he became the loose, jazz-loving center of a Cardinals clubhouse that won a World Series, and took the Most Valuable Player award unanimously. He later helped Atlanta to a division title, was the first man signed purely to be a designated hitter, and finished with 2,351 hits, 379 home runs and a .297 average. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1999.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3) · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 738 | 1 | 24 | 244 | 272 | 100 | 47 | 48 | 2 |
| SGC | 112 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 37 | 32 | 11 | 11 | 6 |
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: #652 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #8 Mike McQueen
- #30 Phil Niekro
- #52 Braves 1971 Rookie Stars
- #62 1970 National League Batting Leaders
- #81 Felix Millan
- #88 Hal King
- #147 Bob Priddy
- #173 Gil Garrido
- #194 Mike Lum
- #223 Cecil Upshaw
- #244 Bob Tillman
- #270 Rico Carty
- #306 Jim Nash
- #346 Lum Harris
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #605 card?
It is card #605 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Orlando Cepeda of the Atlanta Braves.
How many cards are in the 1971 Topps Baseball set?
752 cards, tracked as 761 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 752 with none skipped, issued in six print series (132/131/130/130/120/109 cards), the sixth (#644-752) the high numbers; seven cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - the #42, #265 and #306 photo pairs and the #123, #206, #369 and #619 checklists, #369 and #619 in three printings each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA (its price guide, master set registry and set article), 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.