1963 Topps #499 J.C. Martin
About J.C. Martin
Martin opened 1963 as the White Sox catcher at Tiger Stadium, and Lopez liked the work enough to make him the first-string receiver. The bat did not cooperate:.205, with 53 hits in 259 at-bats across 105 games, 98 of them behind the plate. The job had been sitting open, since Chicago had traded Earl Battey and Johnny Romano, Sherm Lollar was 37 and finishing, and the farm system had no catcher ready. Card #499 belongs to the sixth series and is a semi-high number, reaching packs late in the summer of his first season as the regular.
Joseph Clifton Martin went by his initials because both of his grandparents were named Joseph, and the Southern habit of using initials stuck. Born December 13, 1936, in Axton, Virginia, he signed with the Chicago White Sox as a first baseman before the 1956 season and debuted on September 10, 1959, too late in the year to be eligible for that fall's World Series. Short on power for a corner infielder, he went back to the minors in 1962 to learn catching under Les Moss, and from 1963 he was Chicago's regular receiver, a left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower whose working life was spent chasing the knuckleballs of Hoyt Wilhelm and Eddie Fisher. He caught Joe Horlen's no-hitter in 1967 and was traded to the New York Mets that November, where he backed up Jerry Grote and wound up at the center of a disputed bunt play in the World Series the Mets won in 1969. Three seasons with the Chicago Cubs closed out fourteen years, 908 games and a .222 average. He coached for the Cubs in 1974 and worked White Sox telecasts alongside Harry Caray in 1975.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 343 | 1 | 47 | 169 | 91 | 23 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 38 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
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.
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Related cards
Team card: #288 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #6 1962 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #8 1962 American League Pitching Leaders
- #10 1962 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #16 Al Smith
- #35 John Buzhardt
- #54 1963 Rookie Stars
- #66 Mike Joyce
- #86 Charley Maxwell
- #100 Joe Cunningham
- #118 Sherm Lollar
- #160 Juan Pizarro
- #181 Sammy Esposito
- #223 Eddie Fisher
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #499 card?
It is card #499 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing J.C. Martin of the Chicago White Sox.
Why is #499 harder to find?
It is a semi-high card from the sixth print series, #447-511 - the run where the set's short prints sit. Scarcer than series 1-5, easier than series 7.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: 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.