1964 Topps #223 George Banks
About George Banks
One at-bat was all Minnesota gave him in 1964, and he struck out in it. That June the Twins packaged Banks with pitcher Lee Stange and sent them to Cleveland for Mudcat Grant, a deal Minnesota never regretted: Grant went 21-7 the next summer, led the American League in wins, and carried the Twins to Game Seven of the World Series. Banks answered with the best nine games of his career, hitting .294 with two home runs and slugging .706 for the Indians. Card #223 sits in the third series, and it still shows him in Minnesota flannel months after the trade. His rookie card is the 1963 issue.
George Edward Banks was a right-handed third baseman and outfielder out of Pacolet Mills, South Carolina, born September 24, 1938. He signed with the New York Yankees in 1957 and never climbed past their Eastern League club, but back-to-back minor league seasons of 29 and 30 home runs got him taken by the Minnesota Twins in the 1961 Rule 5 draft. He stuck for all of 1962, batting .252 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 63 games while splitting time between third base and both outfield corners. It was his only full big league season. A June 1964 trade sent Banks and pitcher Lee Stange to Cleveland for Mudcat Grant, and he got into only 17 games for the Indians over parts of three years. He finished at .219 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs in 106 games, spent most of the rest of his career at Triple-A, and retired after 1968 with 223 minor league home runs over 11 seasons. Banks died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on March 1, 1985, at 46, in Spartanburg, South Carolina; athletic fields in Pacolet are named in his memory.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 247 | 2 | 32 | 127 | 56 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. 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
Team card: #318 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #2 1963 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #4 1963 American League Pitching Leaders
- #6 1963 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #8 1963 American League Batting Leaders
- #10 1963 American League Home Run Leaders
- #12 1963 American League R.B.I. Leaders
- #15 Zoilo Versalles
- #34 Jim Perry
- #54 Sam Mele
- #73 Jimmie Hall
- #81 All-Star Vets
- #90 Earl Battey
- #116 Twins 1964 Rookie Stars
- #156 Bill Dailey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #223 card?
It is card #223 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Banks of the Minnesota Twins.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-11.