1962 Topps #540 Jim Landis
About Jim Landis
Card #540 is a series-7 high number, short-printed and one of the tougher pulls in the 1962 set. It reports Landis' 1961 season, far and away his best at the plate: a .283 average in 140 games with career bests of 22 home runs and 85 RBI, numbers he never approached again. He was still collecting Gold Gloves in center at the time, the second of his five.
Jim Landis signed with the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent in 1952 out of Contra Costa Junior College, then spent 1954 and 1955 in the U.S. Army in Alaska before debuting in the majors on April 16, 1957. A slick-fielding center fielder, he anchored Chicago's outfield through the "Go-Go Sox" era, batting .272 in 1959 as the White Sox won the American League pennant, then hitting .292 across all six games of the World Series loss to the Dodgers. Landis won five consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1960 through 1964 and led American League center fielders in double plays three times, retiring with a .989 career outfield fielding average that stood second only to Jimmy Piersall among outfielders of his day. His lone All-Star selection came in 1962, and his best offensive season, 1961, produced career highs of a .283 average, 22 home runs and 85 RBI. Chicago traded him to Kansas City in January 1965, and he closed an eleven-year career with stops in Cleveland, Houston, Detroit and Boston, playing his final game on August 27, 1967. He finished with a .247 average, 93 home runs, 467 RBI and 139 stolen bases, was named to the White Sox Team of the Century in 2000, and died on October 7, 2017, in Napa, California.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 297 | 0 | 10 | 124 | 103 | 40 | 15 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 34 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. Slabs of the three cards printed #139 are joined by description, never by number alone. PSA registers the green tints as a separate set; a tint's population is listed under that state of the card it belongs to.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #540 card?
It is card #540 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Landis of the Chicago White Sox.
Why is #540 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-598) from the seventh print series, distributed last and in the smallest quantity - the toughest cards in the set and home to all 42 short prints and the Rookie Parade. It is also a short print card (42 cards, all in 523-598). Printed in smaller quantity than the rest of the seventh series.
How many cards are in the 1962 Topps Baseball set?
600 cards, tracked as 708 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps, but three different cards were printed #139 - two Hal Reniff poses, catalogued 139a and 139b, and the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, 139c - so 598 numbers make 600 cards; 93 cards carry catalogued print variations, the series-2 green tints among them, that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Baseball Almanac, Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-03.