1962 Topps #555 John Buzhardt
About John Buzhardt
Card #555 sits at the deep end of the 1962 set, a seventh-series high number and a short print, and it already lists Buzhardt with Chicago: the November 28, 1961 trade sent him and Charley Smith to the White Sox for Roy Sievers. The line on the back is still Philadelphia, and it is a grim one, 6-18 with a 4.49 ERA for a club that finished 47-107. He was the closest thing that team had to a stopper, and on August 20, in the second game of a doubleheader at Milwaukee, he beat the Braves 7-4 to end their 23-game skid.
John William Buzhardt was a right-handed pitcher from Prosperity, South Carolina, signed by the Chicago Cubs for $250 in June 1954 and moved through seven minor league stops before reaching the majors on September 10, 1958. He spent eleven seasons (1958-1968) with the Cubs, Phillies, White Sox, Orioles and Astros, finishing 71-96 with a 3.66 ERA and 678 strikeouts. A thinking man's pitcher, he lived on control and a sinker kept low in the zone, and never lost to the Yankees, going 7-0 against them. His rookie September in 1958 brought wins over Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, and on June 21, 1959, he one-hit Philadelphia 4-0 in under two hours. The January 1960 trade that sent Richie Ashburn to Chicago made him a Phillie, and in 1961 he became the man who stopped their 23-game losing streak, still the modern-era record. A November 1961 deal that sent Roy Sievers to Philadelphia brought him to the White Sox and his best years, a 2.42 ERA in 1963 and a career-high 13 wins in 1965. Bounced through three organizations in 1967, his children in four school systems in one year, he turned down a 1969 contract and went home to Prosperity, where a production job grew into a supervisor's post before his death in 2008 at age 71.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 206 | 0 | 6 | 63 | 84 | 34 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 25 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
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 #555 card?
It is card #555 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Buzhardt of the Chicago White Sox.
Why is #555 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.