1965 Topps #23 Bob Tiefenauer
About Bob Tiefenauer
1965 Topps #23 is a first-series card, in packs before opening day, and it still shows Tiefenauer as a Milwaukee Brave - which is where he started the season and not where he finished it. The Braves used him six times, sent him to their Atlanta farm club in June and then sold him to the Yankees. On June 26 he relieved Jim Bouton and beat the Angels for the only American League win of his career. Cleveland bought him on August 11 and gave him 15 more outings. Three uniforms in one summer, and this low number is the last Topps card to picture him as a Brave.
Bobby Gene Tiefenauer was a hard-thrown knuckleball reliever born October 10, 1929, in Desloge, Missouri, a small town about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. The Cardinals signed him out of an open tryout, released him in the spring of 1948 before he threw a professional pitch, then re-signed him that August. What followed was 21 years of pro ball in which the minors, not the majors, held his best work: 162 wins and a 2.66 ERA over 2,039 innings, including a 49-15 stretch across four International League seasons between 1958 and 1963. In the big leagues he pitched parts of ten seasons between 1952 and 1968 for six clubs - Cardinals, Indians, Colt .45s, Braves, Yankees and Cubs - always in relief, going 9-25 with 23 saves and a 3.84 ERA in 179 games. His best year came in 1964 with Milwaukee. Catchers dreaded the pitch; his Detroit teammates would not warm him up on the sidelines without a facemask. Known as Pete at home, he coached about a dozen years in the Phillies organization, including 1979 on their major league staff as bullpen coach. He died June 13, 2000, in Desloge at 70, and was elected to the International League Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 298 | 3 | 58 | 158 | 53 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Related cards
Team card: #426 Milwaukee Braves
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- #2 National League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #44 Wade Blasingame
- #63 Ty Cline
- #82 Braves 1965 Rookie Stars
- #106 Gene Oliver
- #127 Frank Lary
- #156 Bob Sadowski
- #170 Hank Aaron
- #182 Mike de la Hoz
- #200 Joe Torre
- #223 Dan Osinski
- #241 Mack Jones
- #269 Frank Bolling
- #287 Gary Kolb
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #23 card?
It is card #23 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Tiefenauer of the Milwaukee Braves.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.