
The 1965 Topps baseball card set has every part the classic collector may ask for: Corridor of Fame rookie playing cards, big-name superstars, stable subsets, and a incredible design.
Scan by way of the 598-card guidelines and it is easy to see why it is typically thought-about probably the greatest of the 60s.
The multi-colored inside borders and flowing crew pennants have been glorious design components that helped showcase full-color participant photos.
Like a number of units from the Sixties, Mickey Mantle sits atop the checklist as essentially the most fascinating.
However, there are many different nice playing cards to be discovered inside.
And on this information, I stroll by way of the 25 most useful.
Let’s leap proper in!
1965 Topps #350 Mickey Mantle
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $5,250
Come 1965, the wheels fell off for each Mantle and the Yankees franchise.
Within the aftermath of an excruciating seven-game World Collection loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the crew’s new house owners (the deep-pocketed CBS community) went on the offensive, plucking the Playing cards’ supervisor, Johnny Keane, proper out from below the brand new champs.
The hope was that Keane could be the key ingredient to delay the Yankees dynasty.
As an alternative, it was the primary crack within the facade of the Yankee Means.
Keane was removed from the correct man for the job, equal elements paranoid and overwhelmed.
He additionally inherited an growing older, decaying roster, headlined by Mickey Mantle’s sudden, sharp decline.
The mixed toll of a hard-partying way of life and accidents was an excessive amount of.
At 33 years of age, Mantle’s legs have been shot and his physique was in full revolt. His numbers mirrored all of it.
The venerable Yankees middle fielder hit simply .255 in 1965, a brand new profession low.
His .379 on-base proportion and .452 OPS have been his worst since his 1951 rookie 12 months.
To compound issues, Mantle missed slightly below 1/4 of the season on account of numerous illnesses and accidents.
Sure, Mantle acquired down-ballot MVP consideration.
And sure, he was named to his eighteenth consecutive All-Star Recreation.
However, it was clear that the Mantle of previous was now previous earlier than his time.

1965 Topps #207 Pete Rose
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,750
1965 was the 12 months that Pete Rose grew to become Pete Rose.
The 1963 NL Rookie of the Yr took a sizeable step again in his sophomore 12 months, hitting .269 and posting a forgettable .645 OPS in 136 video games.
In ‘65, Rose turned that disappointment into an onslaught on Nationwide League pitching.
The 24-year-old Cincinnati Reds second baseman clicked on all cylinders in his third 12 months, spraying the ball to all elements of the sphere with a veteran contact nicely past his years.
Rose completed fifth within the Nationwide League with a .312 batting common, his first of a mind-boggling fifteen consecutive seasons hitting .300 or higher.
He additionally proved extra sturdy than the celebs forward of him within the batting crown race, main the Majors in plate appearances (757) and at-bats (670) whereas enjoying all 162 of the Reds’ regular-season video games.
Rose, a first-time All-Star and sixth-place MVP finisher, lifted the 89-win Reds to a fourth-place end in a stacked NL pennant race.
His MLB-best 209 hits marked the primary of seven years that he’d tempo baseball in that class.
A success machine earlier than the Huge Pink Machine was even a factor, Pete Rose’s 1965 breakthrough planted the seeds for a future Cincinnati dynasty.

1965 Topps #250 Willie Mays
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,600
For over a decade heading into the 1965 MLB season, Willie Mays was a number of cuts above the remaining.
The San Francisco Giants middle fielder was the proper combination of character, defensive wizardry, and blunt-force brutality on the plate.
Nobody may contact Willie Mays at his peak.
And it simply so occurred that his peak lasted longer than most gamers’ skilled careers.
In ’65, the 34-year-old shortlist GOAT candidate received his second NL MVP award, eleven years after his first.
Galvanizing the Giants clubhouse, Mays went nuclear on the Nationwide League.
He led the Majors in house runs (52), together with his entry into the hallowed 500 Dwelling-Run Membership on September thirteenth in Houston.
He additionally topped baseball in on-base proportion (.398), slugging proportion (.645), OPS (1.043), whole bases (360), and OPS+ (185), all whereas nonetheless delivering the all-world middle discipline protection he was well-known for.
The incomparable Say Hey Child scored (118) and drove in (112) over 110 runs, offering a robust punch that propelled San Francisco right into a heated, hate-fueled pennant race with the Dodgers.
Ultimately, the 95-win Giants fell two video games shy of their rivals from Los Angeles, ending Mays’ monster season with a painful thud.

1965 Topps #170 Hank Aaron
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,300
When the Braves franchise moved to Milwaukee from Boston in 1953, the group embraced them with open arms.
The crew drew over 1.7 million followers each season for the rest of the last decade, peaking at simply over 2.2 million within the crew’s 1957 championship 12 months.
The Sixties have been a distinct story.
Public distaste for the crew’s administration, basic apathy, and court docket battles centered on the franchise’s intentions to maneuver to Atlanta led to diminishing returns on the gate.
In 1965, issues reached their apparent boiling level.
The crew drew simply 555,584 followers, averaging a paltry 6,859 followers per sport.
County Stadium was a barren, miserable sight on most days.
And it is unhappy, contemplating that it coincided with one other good 12 months for town’s favourite baseball son: Hank Aaron.
Aaron was the glue that held the 86-win Braves collectively, slashing .318/.379/.560 with 32 house runs, an NL-best 40 doubles, 109 runs scored, 24 stolen bases, and 89 RBIs in 639 plate appearances (570 at-bats).
It wasn’t sufficient to push the Braves into the pennant combine, nor was it sufficient to avoid wasting baseball in Milwaukee.
The Braves lastly received their case within the offseason, formally transferring to Atlanta for the 1966 marketing campaign.
However, no less than Aaron gave them a farewell current value remembering, even when nobody was there to obtain it.

1965 Topps #300 Sandy Koufax
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,300
Sandy Koufax’s Corridor-of-Fame profession hinges on the best five-year stretch (1961-65) by a beginning pitcher in Main League Baseball historical past.
1965 was maybe essentially the most ludicrous of these 5 wonderful seasons.
In a career-best and Main-League finest 335.2 innings pitched, Koufax fanned an astounding 382 batters, clearing Rube Waddell’s former modern-era strikeout file by 33.
And on September Ninth, Koufax grew to become the primary pitcher in MLB historical past to file a fourth profession no-hitter, blanking the Chicago Cubs in simply the eighth good sport of the trendy period.
Along with main the Majors in Ks and innings pitched, the Dodgers ace topped the charts in wins (26), ERA (2.04), full video games (27), batters confronted (1297), FIP (2.08), WHIP (0.928), and hits-per-9 (5.8).
He additionally paced the Nationwide League in strikeouts-per-nine (10.2) for good measure.
An instructional selection for his second NL Cy Younger Award, the five-time All-Star completed because the runner-up to Willie Mays within the league’s MVP race.
When it counted, although, Koufax bought a leg up on his Giants rival.
After dropping Recreation Two of the ‘65 World Collection to the Minnesota Twins, Koufax spun complete-game shutouts in Recreation 5 and the clinching Recreation 7, the latter of which approaching simply two days’ relaxation.
The Dodgers received their second World Collection in three years, each of which ending with the immortal Koufax taking house Collection MVP honors.

1965 Topps #160 Roberto Clemente
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,250
Roberto Clemente’s 1965 season was cursed from the beginning.
Throughout his common winter ball stint in Puerto Rico, he twisted his ankle violently throughout a sport and was later struck within the thigh by an errant rock kicked out from below his lawnmower.
In appreciable ache, he gutted it out for a pinch-hit efficiency within the league’s All-Star Recreation, a choice that proved expensive.
“I felt my thigh ligament pop and one thing like water draining inside my leg,” Clemente mentioned.
It was a foul omen for the season to come back.
Pressured to go below the knife with a severed thigh ligament, Clemente’s offseason preparations have been understandably abbreviated.
As you would possibly anticipate, Clemente bought off to a sluggish begin in ’65.
The crew adopted go well with, going 9-24 in its first 33 video games below new supervisor Harry Walker.
But, when the Pirates’ star proper fielder began to get his legs beneath him, the crew bounced again with gusto.
Pittsburgh rattled off 12 wins in a row after that 33-game stretch, with Clemente hitting a blazing .458 in the course of the streak.
However the Buccos could not climb out of the sizeable gap they created in April, ending third within the NL with a 90-72-1 file.
With out Clemente, it could have been a lot, a lot worse.
Ending eighth within the league’s MVP race, the 30-year-old Corridor-of-Famer-to-be received his third NL batting title (and second consecutive) with an MLB-best .329 common.

1965 Topps #16 Joe Morgan Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $1,200
After transient cups of espresso with the big-league membership in 1963 and 1964, Joe Morgan secured the Houston Astros’ beginning second-base job within the spring of ‘65.
At simply 21 years of age, Morgan wasn’t but the MVP-caliber hitter he’d grow to be in his Cincinnati prime.
His swing mechanics weren’t polished, albeit nonetheless loads ok to vault him into consideration with the perfect center infielders within the sport.
What Morgan did have was persistence.
Opposing pitchers would get visibly annoyed with the younger phenom as he fouled pitches off, spit on borderline balls, and labored counts tirelessly.
All of it added as much as an MLB-best 97 walks and numerous annoyed opponents.
Total, Morgan slashed .271/.373/.418 for the ninth-place Astros with 14 house runs, 22 doubles, 12 triples, 40 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, and 100 runs scored in 157 video games performed.
He earned a smattering of down-ballot MVP votes (regardless of enjoying for a directionless Houston membership) and completed because the NL Rookie of the Yr runner-up to Dodgers second baseman Jim Lefebvre.

1965 Topps #477 Steve Carlton Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $950
Eighteen months after signing a $5,000 bonus contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, Steve Carlton labored his manner right into a big-league roster spot within the spring of 1965.
Popping out of Miami Dade Faculty as an intriguing lefty prospect, the younger hurler shortly moved up the Playing cards’ organizational ladder.
In 1964, he bounced from Low-A to Double-A, going 17-9 throughout three minor-league ranges with a sterling 2.32 ERA and 210 strikeouts in 206.0 innings pitched.
It was clear early on that Carlton had the stuff and the make-up to make an affect within the huge leagues.
His spin-heavy, tight slider was a depraved complement to his breaking ball and pinpoint fastball.
Regardless of the place he performed, he was nearly unhittable at his finest.
Equal elements gifted, introverted, and cussed, Carlton typically rubbed folks the improper manner together with his blunt communication fashion (i.e. Playing cards catcher Tim McCarver).
Nonetheless, he knew what he was speaking about and had the numbers to again that up.
The 20-year-old future ace appeared in simply 15 video games in ’65 (with two begins), impressing in a small pattern measurement.
He pitched to a 2.52 ERA for seventh-place St. Louis, placing out 21 batters in 25 innings.
His 1.400 WHIP (27 hits, eight walks) mirrored his youth and inexperience, but the great was too good to quibble over an preliminary lack of management.

1965 Topps #145 Luis Tiant Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $550
Within the shadow of fellow Cleveland Indians pitching standout Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant needed to wait patiently for his flip in The Present.
When McDowell was promoted to the big-league membership early within the 1964 season, it appeared that Tiant could be the odd man out in Cleveland, no less than in the interim.
As an alternative, Tiant compelled the Indians’ hand.
From April to mid-July of 1964, he went 15-1 for Triple-A Portland with 13 full video games in 15 begins.
He continued to make his identify after being promoted, going 10-4 for Cleveland with a 2.83 ERA in 19 appearances (16 begins).
A transparent selection for a rotation spot in 1965, Tiant’s sophomore go-around was a step again.
Carrying a bit an excessive amount of weight for his body and battling soreness in his pitching arm, the 24-year-old righty went 11-11 with a 3.53 ERA for the fifth-place Indians.
Trying a bit deeper, there was loads to love about Tiant’s first full season.
He pitched 196.1 innings throughout 41 appearances (30 begins), finishing ten video games and compiling a powerful 1.182 WHIP.
The management was typically a problem, although, as was his sturdiness.
So when Tiant’s father suggested that he drop some weight and concentrate on conditioning within the offseason, he obliged, dropping 20 kilos earlier than the beginning of the ’66 marketing campaign.

1965 Topps #581 Tony Perez Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $550
Signed for the price of a airplane ticket and a $2.50 exit visa, Tony Perez had nothing handed to him when he entered the Cincinnati Reds’ farm system in 1960.
Upon his arrival Stateside, the Cuban nationwide was a uncooked expertise, equal elements spectacular and erratic.
He began his skilled profession at third base, however a mixed 103 errors in his first three seasons scuttled that shortly.
When Perez broke into the Bigs for a fast 12-game stint in 1964, it was as a primary baseman, the place he’d play for many of his 23-year MLB profession.
In ’65, the previous Pacific Coast League MVP was slotted right into a platoon with Gordy Coleman, the righty-swinging Perez getting most at-bats towards lefties, and vice versa for Coleman.
It turned out to be fairly a productive duo for the 89-win Reds.
Coleman cracked .300 for the primary time in his six-year profession so far (.302), launching 14 house runs in 325 at-bats.
Perez supplied comparable energy with 12 homers in simply 281 at-bats.
The rookie slugger posted a .260/.315/.466 slash line on the 12 months with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 40 runs scored, and 47 RBIs in 104 video games performed.
He additionally proved himself to be a gamer, developing with numerous clutch hits to assist elevate Cincy to its fifth consecutive successful season.

1965 Topps #320 Bob Gibson
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $475
The nice vibes from the St. Louis Cardinals’ 1964 championship season lasted all however just a few days or so.
Within the offseason, supervisor Johnny Keane submitted his resignation, finally heading to the Bronx to take over the Yankees’ job.
New supervisor Pink Schoendienst inherited a veteran membership anticipated to as soon as towards problem for an NL pennant.
As an alternative, 80-win St. Louis slipped again to the underside half of the NL standings, vexed by an inconsistent offense and an growing older core.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Playing cards, although.
After a powerful 12 months in ’64 worthy of down-ballot MVP consideration, 29-year-old righty Bob Gibson put collectively one other tremendous 12 months in ’65.
The longer term two-time NL Cy Younger and NL MVP reached the 20-win mark for the primary of 5 instances, going 20-12 with a powerful 3.07 ERA.
He accomplished 20 of his 36 begins, surrendering simply 243 hits in 299.0 innings pitched.
He additionally fielded his place with certain palms and a powerful arm, incomes his first of 9 Gold Gloves.
Alternatively, management remained a problem for the now three-time All-Star.
Gibson issued over 100 walks for the primary time since 1961 (an NL-worst 119) and gave up an MLB-worst 34 house runs.
It was a hit-and-miss season, to make sure.
Fortunate for the Cardinals, it was often extra hit than miss.

1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $400
Tony Oliva’s first two years as a big-league participant learn like one thing from a Hollywood film.
From a disastrous preliminary tryout with the Minnesota Twins to the MLB penthouse in a half-decade, the Cuban nationwide’s journey by way of the skilled baseball wilderness led him to the head of the sport in 1965.
The primary participant in baseball historical past to seize batting crowns in his first two Main League seasons, Oliva was the straw that stirred the drink for the 102-win AL champs.
Oliva’s candy swing was a factor of magnificence, propelling the 26-year-old proper fielder into the AL’s prime 4 in six main offensive classes: batting common (.321, 1st), base hits (185, 1st), runs scored (107, 2nd), whole bases (283, third), doubles (40, third), RBIs (98, third), and on-base proportion (.378, 4th).
If not for teammate and fellow countryman Zoilo Versalles, Oliva would have parlayed his 1964 Rookie-of-the-Yr award into MVP gold in 1965.
As an alternative, the two-time All-Star must “settle” for a runner-up end and a league pennant.
Sadly for Twins followers, Oliva’s dream season bought shaken awake within the 1965 World Collection.
He went simply 5-for-27 (.192) with a meager .568 OPS within the crew’s seven-game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1965 Topps #510 Ernie Banks
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $400
In 1964, the Chicago Cubs flirted with rivalry over the season’s first two months earlier than fading to an underwhelming seventh-place end.
Come ’65, the lovable losers as soon as once more hovered round .500 earlier than settling into a well-recognized place close to the underside of the NL standings at 76-86-1.
Mired of their twelfth dropping season in 13 tries, the Cubs have been a punchline.
However their 12-time All-Star and former MVP, Ernie Banks, wasn’t laughing.
Publicly and privately annoyed with the crew’s path, Banks did his finest to stay skilled between the traces.
Whether or not it was below the eventually-fired Bob Kennedy or interim supervisor Lou Klein, Banks got here to the park and did his job.
A 3-headed hitting monster consisting of Banks, Ron Santo, and Billy Williams was tasked with holding an in any other case pitiful offensive assault afloat.
It labored in matches and begins, but it wasn’t sustainable all through a 162-game season.
Banks completed the 12 months slashing .265/.328/.453 with 28 house runs, 25 doubles, three triples, 79 runs scored, and 106 RBIs whereas showing in all 163 contests for the boys from Wrigley.
The trio of Banks, Santo, and Williams accounted for 95 of the crew’s 134 house runs (70.9%) and 315 of Chicago’s 590 RBIs (53.4%), a lopsided ledger that led the Cubs nowhere quick

1965 Topps #510 Catfish Hunter Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $400
Regardless of how depressing issues get for a participant or crew throughout a given season, there’s all the time room (nonetheless slight) for optimism.
Living proof, right-handed hurler Catfish Hunter’s rookie 12 months with the last-place Athletics was a examine in distinction.
The 19-year-old struggled in his preliminary MLB go-around, failing to cement his out pitch whereas giving up his fair proportion of huge hits and tape-measure bombs.
Hunter completed the 12 months at a good 8-8 for 59-win Kansas Metropolis, pitching to a 4.26 ERA in 32 video games (20 begins).
And whereas his 8.4 strikeouts-per-9-innings line up together with his profession mark of 8.2, his 8.4 hits-per-9 and career-worst 1.4 house runs per 9 innings painted the image of a younger prospect taking his lumps in 12 months one.
But, regardless of how dangerous issues bought for Hunter or the Athletics, there was one thing unshakeable in regards to the child who turned heads inside and outdoors the group.
“He is made a believer out of me now,” mentioned A’s pitching coach Ed Lopat. “The factor that impresses me about Hunter is the way in which he reacts after somebody has hit a house run towards him. Hunter does not care. He retains on throwing strikes.”

1965 Topps #120 Frank Robinson
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $325
Regardless of eight All-Star appearances, a 1956 Rookie-of-the-Yr award, and a 1961 NL MVP award, Frank Robinson was bizarrely underappreciated in his ultimate 12 months with the Cincinnati Reds.
Regardless of how a lot the crew’s fan base cherished him and his teammates seemed as much as him, the buck all the time stopped with proprietor Invoice DeWitt.
And the reality was that DeWitt did not like Robinson all that a lot.
It did not matter that Robinson was the highest run producer in franchise historical past.
It did not matter that he hit to a wholesome .925 OPS in ’65 whereas posting his fourth season with each 100 runs scored (109) and 100 runs pushed in (113).
Robinson’s 33 house runs have been an afterthought to DeWitt.
Labeling him as an “previous 30,” DeWitt pulled the set off on one of many dumbest trades within the sport’s historical past, offloading subsequent 12 months’s AL MVP to Baltimore for a handful of peanuts.
“My thoughts went clean when the commerce was introduced,” mentioned Robinson. “I didn’t really feel I had something to show, but I wished to show to Invoice DeWitt that I used to be not accomplished at age 30.”
He did simply that after which some, carrying the Orioles to 2 World Collection titles over the subsequent 5 seasons.

1965 Topps #8 N.L. ERA Leaders
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $300
Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax appeared on the prime of a number of classes in the course of the 1964 season because the Los Angeles Dodgers relied closely on their All-Star workhorses.
Drysdale paced the Majors in begins (40), innings (321.1) and batters confronted (1,264) whereas main the Nationwide League in WAR (7.8).
And Koufax bested each pitcher in Main League Baseball in successful proportion (.792), FIP (2.08), WHIP (0.928) and taking first in hits-per-nine (6.2), strikeouts-per-nine (9.0), ERA+ (186), shutouts (7), and ERA (1.74).
The dynamic duo accounted for 37 of the membership’s 80 wins that season, with Koufax (19) besting Drysdale by one (18).
Regardless of their unimaginable performances on the mound, the Dodgers limped to a sixth-place end within the Nationwide League pennant race.
Nonetheless, Topps commemorated their particular person efforts with this 1964 NL ERA Leaders card.
Nobody was going to catch Koufax and his 1.74 ERA.
However Drysdale was second-best within the NL at 2.18.
It was one other top-notch season for one of many sport’s finest 1-2 punches in historical past.

1965 Topps #134 Mantle’s Cluth HR
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $300
From 1947-1964, the New York Yankees have been an unassailable juggernaut. The Bronx Bombers captured fifteen of a doable eighteen AL pennants, changing ten of these into World Collection championships.
And within the backside of the Ninth in Recreation 3 of the ’64 World Collection, Mickey Mantle and the Yankees appeared primed for much more championship glory, if just for a second.
With the sport tied 1-1, Barney Schultz entered in aid of starter Curt Simmons, who had tossed an eight-inning magnificence, giving up 4 hits and one earned run.
After which, with one fateful pitch, the sport got here to a direct halt.
Simmons tossed 110 pitches that day.
Schultz threw just one.
And the legendary Mickey Mantle, batting lefty, blasted it deep into the correct discipline bleachers, sending 67,101 followers at Yankee Stadium right into a frenzy as New York took a 2-1 Collection lead.
Issues did not get a lot better for Schultz.
In Recreation 6, the Yanks roughed him up for 4 runs in two-thirds of an inning of labor within the eighth.
It was greater than sufficient to assist New York to an 8-3 victory.
Nonetheless, regardless of a two-run Yankees scare within the prime of the Ninth in Recreation 7 at Busch Stadium, Schultz and the remainder of the Cardinals clubhouse breathed a sigh of aid with a 7-5 Collection-clinching victory.

1965 Topps #377 Willie Stargell
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $300
A famous free swinger with an all-or-nothing fashion, Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Willie Stargell by no means bought cheated in a big-league batter’s field.
In his first two big-league years in 1963 and ’64, this method price Stargell.
The facility numbers have been stable, however his lack of persistence led to a mixed on-base proportion below .300.
In 1965, Stargell began to tweak issues to his profit and the good thing about the third-place Buccos.
He lower his strikeout price from 25.9% in ’63 to 21.8% in ’65.
The latter quantity is not precisely nice, nevertheless it was a step ahead for the 25-year-old as a middle-of-the-order risk.
A two-time All-Star and down-ballot MVP point out, Stargell hit .272 with a brand new career-high .328 on-base proportion.
He additionally set new profession bests in house runs (27), RBIs (107), doubles (25), and plate appearances (582), amongst different classes.
Issues have been on the up-trend for Stargell and a Pirates crew.
It might take a half-decade for the franchise to return to the World Collection promised land, however the basis was already nicely below development.

1965 Topps #385 Carl Yastrzemski
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $300
The 1965 Boston Pink Sox could not pitch their manner out of a paper bag, ending lifeless final within the Majors in runs allowed per sport (4.88).
That is a disgrace, contemplating the offense wasn’t horrible.
Ending higher than the league common in most main statistical classes, the Pink Sox may slug away with the perfect of them.
The pitching was simply too terrible, although, dooming the Sox to a 62-100 file and a Ninth-place end within the AL.
It was an absolute waste.
And it took the luster off one heck of an All-Star marketing campaign for 25-year-old left fielder Carl Yastrzemski.
The five-year veteran had his finest 12 months so far in ’65, pacing the Majors in doubles (45) and main the Junior Circuit in on-base proportion (.395), slugging proportion (.536), OPS (.932), and OPS+ (156).
In our present advanced-stat period, Yastrzemski’s second All-Star marketing campaign would get extra love.
Because it was, he nonetheless landed a top-ten end within the league’s MVP race whereas capturing his second Gold Glove due to his stellar efforts in proper

1965 Topps #2 N.L. Batting Leaders
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $275
Dick Allen might have run away with the 1964 NL Rookie of the Yr award with 90% of the vote.
However Rico Carty additionally had a tremendous season, slashing .330/.388/.554 with 22 house runs, 88 RBIs, and 72 runs scored.
It was ok to tie San Francisco’s Jim Ray Hart for second place within the NL ROY race.
Carty would go on to seem in a single All-Star Recreation and win one batting title, each in the course of the 1970 season, the best of his stable 15-year profession.
But, many of the worth of this card comes from the looks of two mega stars, Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, who accompany him on this NL Batting Leaders card.
Clemente topped the Majors in 1964 with a .339 batting common, whereas Hammerin’ Hank hit .328, the second-highest mark of his profession since hitting .355 in 1959.
Had Carty been only a bit higher, it could have been him atop this card with Clemente and Aaron under.
Nonetheless, ending second in a batting race between two legends like Aaron and Clemente was sufficient of an achievement, not to mention the truth that it got here throughout his rookie season.

1965 Topps #5 A.L. RBI Leaders
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $275
The 1965 AL RBI race was shut, with Brooks Robinson ending on prime with 118.
A four-RBI sport on the second-to-last day of the season throughout a 10-4 house win towards the Detroit Tigers gave Robinson simply sufficient padding to edge out Boston’s Dick Stuart, who completed with 114 RBIs.
Robinson’s 118 RBIs have been simply a career-high, besting his second-highest whole by 18 when he drove in 100 runs in 1966, the one different time he reached the 100-RBI mark in his historic profession.
Driving in so many runs that 12 months was an enormous purpose he received the 1964 AL MVP award.
However it might have been a distinct story if the opposite two guys on this card, Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew, have been only a bit extra like their common selves in 1965.
Mantle received the AL RBI title in ’61 and ’62, whereas Killebrew received it in ’66, ’67, and ’69.
However give credit score the place credit score is due.
Brooks Robinson confirmed up in an enormous manner in 1964.
And, although he did win the RBI crown, the MVP award seemingly carried way more significance to the common-or-garden future Corridor-of-Famer.

1965 Topps #155 Roger Maris
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $275
Issues went from dangerous to downright insufferable for New York Yankees proper fielder Roger Maris in 1965.
4 years faraway from breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season house run file in a chase filled with controversy, Maris was public enemy #1 within the Bronx.
Because the Yankees dynasty died a gradual dying in the course of the crew’s worst season in 40 years, Maris was the media and the followers’ favourite punching bag.
The 30-year-old slugger appeared in solely 46 video games in ’65, nursing a mistakenly-diagnosed damaged hand.
When he did make the sphere, Maris’ manufacturing was underwhelming.
He slashed simply .239/.357/.439 in 186 plate appearances with eight house runs and 27 RBIs.
Certain, Mickey Mantle missed a ton of time, as did catcher Elston Howard.
Nonetheless, they’d sufficient goodwill with the press and followers to remain out of the road of fireside.
Maris, then again, wasn’t so fortunate.
Sullen and brief together with his critics, the two-time AL MVP was a pinstriped scapegoat.
Ever the outsider, even at his peak, Maris could not win over New York even when he’d wished to.

1965 Topps #460 Richie Allen
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $275
As a rookie in 1964, Dick Allen led the Majors in runs scored (125) and triples (13) whereas additionally main the Nationwide League in whole bases (352) and, sadly, strikeouts (138).
He additionally turned in a .318 batting common, 29 house runs, 201 hits and drove in 91 runs, as well.
Scouts knew the teenager from Wampum, Pennsylvania, was an unimaginable expertise lengthy earlier than he suited up for the Phillies.
And Allen delivered, successful NL Rookie of the Yr honors and a seventh-place end within the MVP race.
Although his numbers regressed a bit throughout his sophomore season in ’65, Allen earned his first of seven profession All-Star appearances and a handful of down-ballot MVP votes.
And he remained one of many sport’s greatest superstars all through the Sixties and 70s.
However, Allen’s profession was typically shrouded in controversy.
Something from his distaste for teammates and the press calling him “Richie” to infighting with jealous teammates to routinely coping with chants and slurs from followers appeared to distract from his unimaginable play.
In 2022, Allen missed becoming a member of Gil Hodges, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat in Cooperstown when the Golden Days Period Committee left him with eleven votes, only one brief wanted for entry.
Allen stays one of many best gamers of all time to be left off the Corridor of Fame ledger.

1965 Topps #540 Lou Brock
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $275
Earlier than the tip of 1964, Lou Brock was a speedster who doubled as an completed base thief.
From there, he grew to become probably the most legendary stolen-base artists of all time.
What modified?
Effectively, it began with an eight-millimeter digital camera.
One of many nice thinkers of his or any period, Brock recorded the Nationwide League’s pitchers each sport he may.
By doing so, he may examine every hurler’s pickoff strikes to time his jumps higher.
Brock’s beginner movies rubbed many pitchers the improper manner.
Don Drysdale even went as far as to throw on the St. Louis Cardinals’ left fielder after telling him to maintain him out of his “goddamn films.”
Brock did not hear, and it is a good factor he did not.
He bested his profession excessive in stolen bases by twenty in 1965, ending second within the Majors behind the Dodgers’ Maury Wills with 63.
One other high quality hitting season did not damage.
Brock posted a .288 batting common on the 12 months with 16 house runs, 35 doubles, eight triples, 107 runs scored, and 69 RBIs in 697 plate appearances (631 at-bats).
The extra Brock hit, the extra probabilities he needed to swipe a bag.
It was a way of greatness that finally led him to Cooperstown.

1965 Topps #260 Don Drysdale
Estimated PSA 8 NM-MT Worth: $250
There have been two the reason why the Los Angeles Dodgers staved off the rival SF Giants: Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.
The 2 mixed for 49 of the Dodgers’ 97 wins, with Koufax topping the Majors at 26 and Drysdale slotting in third at 23.
The 1-2 punch papered over a weak Dodgers offense that completed fifteenth out of 20 groups in run manufacturing (3.75), nineteenth in slugging proportion (.335), seventeenth in OPS (.647), and lifeless final in house runs (78).
Los Angeles simply wasn’t constructed to outscore its opposition.
So, they leaned closely on Drysdale and Koufax to place up zeroes for his or her opponents.
Backing up his Cy Younger teammate together with his aggressive mound method, Drysdale completed fifth within the league’s MVP race with a 23-12 file.
He pitched to a glowing 2.77 ERA, finishing 20 of his MLB-best 42 begins and placing out 210 batters in 308.1 innings.
And are available the World Collection, they introduced Los Angeles its second trophy in three years, even when the sequence began badly.
Drysdale and Koufax took the L in Video games 1 and a couple of, placing the Dodgers in a 2-0 gap towards the 102-win Twins.
From there, Koufax and the Huge D accounted for 3 of the crew’s 4 title-clinching wins, together with a Recreation 4 strikeout masterclass by Drysdale during which he Okay’d eleven Twins en path to a Collection-tying 7-2 win.

1965 Topps Baseball Playing cards In Overview
Most classic collectors get pleasure from this set design.
Others of the Sixties, just like the 1962 and 1968 set designs, can generally fire up controversy with their respective wood-grain and burlap-border designs.
However, sometimes, you may discover most classic collectors have good issues to say in regards to the 1965 set design.
And even the few detractors that their could also be on the subject of eye attraction, you will not discover them denying one different key function of this set: its rookie card and star energy.
Corridor of Famers Joe Morgan, Steve Carlton, Tony Perez and Catfish Hunter all made their rookie card debuts in ’65 Topps.
And the checklist of superstars is unimaginable, headlined by Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Sandy Koufax, to call just a few.

There may be really no scarcity of big-name star attraction.
And whereas it does not have as many subsets as different Topps problems with the Sixties, the 2 subsets under knock it out of the park in terms of high quality:
- League Leaders (#1 – 12)
- World Collection Highlights (#132 – 139)
Total, the 1965 Topps baseball set is as stable as they arrive for classic units.
And demand for the playing cards on this checklist will stay fairly excessive for an extended, very long time.
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