1977 Topps #482 Tony Solaita
About Tony Solaita
California gave Solaita his most playing time in 1977, 116 games and 324 at-bats, both career highs, though he stayed in a platoon with Ron Jackson and finished with 14 home runs. The winter before, he had played for Jack McKeon's Santurce club in Puerto Rico, where seven of his 11 homers came off left-handers. Topps #482 shows him as an Angel.
Tony Solaita was a left-handed first baseman and designated hitter, the only major leaguer born in American Samoa. Born in Nuuuli, he grew up in Hawaii and California and signed with the Yankees out of Jefferson High School in Daly City. In 1968 he hit 51 home runs, two of them in the playoffs, for High Point-Thomasville, more than anyone in organized baseball, and was named Topps Minor League Player of the Year; the Yankees gave him one game that September. After years in the minors he was taken by Kansas City in the December 1973 Rule 5 draft and became a part-time power bat for the Royals, Angels, Expos and Blue Jays through 1979, finishing with 50 home runs in 525 games. He then played four seasons in Japan for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, where he hit 45 home runs in 1980, still the club's single-season record. Solaita was killed in Tafuna, American Samoa, on February 10, 1990, in a dispute over land.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 45 | 6 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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
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- #91 John Verhoeven
- #107 Bill Melton
- #131 Orlando Ramirez
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- #155 Joe Rudi
- #179 Paul Hartzell
- #200 Frank Tanana
- #224 Rusty Torres
- #234 Nolan Ryan
- #257 Mike Miley
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1977 Topps #482 card?
It is card #482 of the 660-card 1977 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Solaita of the California Angels.
How many cards are in the 1977 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and distributed as a single series. No card carries a catalogued print variation, so the base set and the master set are the same 660 cards.
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.