1964 Topps #85 Pete Ward
About Pete Ward
Card #85 in the 1964 Topps set's first series catches Ward a year into his White Sox career, and he answered the sophomore jinx talk head on. A back injury cost him the opening couple of weeks, yet he still hit .282 with 23 home runs, three of them with the bases loaded, and a career-best 94 RBIs, while lifting his fielding at third base to a better-than-average .958. Chicago stayed with the Yankees and Orioles into the final days before finishing second by a single game, and Ward placed sixth in the American League MVP voting, his second straight year in the top ten.
Pete Ward was a Canadian-born third baseman who appeared in 973 games over nine major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. Born in Montreal on July 26, 1937, the son of Montreal Maroons hockey star Jimmy Ward, he moved to Portland, Oregon at age eight and became the first Lewis and Clark College player to reach the majors. Baltimore signed him in 1958, and after five minor league seasons he debuted with the Orioles on September 21, 1962, delivering a two-run single in his first at bat. The following January the Orioles traded him to Chicago in the blockbuster that brought Luis Aparicio to Baltimore. Installed as the White Sox third baseman in 1963, Ward hit .295 with 22 home runs and was named The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year. A car accident early in 1965 left him with a neck injury he never shook, and he spent the rest of his career as a corner infielder and outfielder before a final season in New York in 1970. Ward later managed in the minors and coached for the Braves, entered the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 and died in 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 213 | 2 | 17 | 109 | 48 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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: #496 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #2 1963 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #13 Hoyt Wilhelm
- #31 Dave Nicholson
- #66 Eddie Fisher
- #81 All-Star Vets
- #107 White Sox 1964 Rookie Stars
- #130 Gary Peters
- #148 J.C. Martin
- #168 Al Weis
- #195 Floyd Robinson
- #215 Ray Herbert
- #232 Al Lopez
- #247 Dave DeBusschere
- #264 Jim Landis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #85 card?
It is card #85 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Ward of the Chicago White Sox.
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.