1965 Topps #306 Bubba Phillips
About Bubba Phillips
Card 306, from the fourth series of 1965, is a Tigers card for a man who was already out of baseball - Phillips made his last appearance in September 1964 and never played another big-league game, so this one reached collectors with no season ahead of it. The career it caps: 835 hits, 135 doubles, 348 runs scored, and a .358 slugging percentage, with only 314 strikeouts in 3,278 at-bats. He went home to Mississippi afterward, worked in real estate and taught tennis at his old college and for the city of Hattiesburg, and died there in 1993 at 65.
John Melvin "Bubba" Phillips was a third baseman and outfielder, born in West Point, Mississippi on February 24, 1928, who spent ten seasons in the majors from 1955 through 1964 with the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland Indians. A football standout at Macon High School and a team captain and Little All-America running back at Mississippi Southern College, he chose baseball over a professional football future with the San Francisco 49ers and signed with the Detroit organization in 1948, then spent 1953 and 1954 in the Army before reaching the big leagues in 1955. After early years as a reserve outfielder, he moved to third base with the White Sox in 1957 and stayed at the position, helping Chicago win the 1959 American League pennant and going 3-for-10 in a six-game World Series loss to the Dodgers. Traded to Cleveland that December, he had his best year in 1961, leading American League third basemen with 18 home runs. He closed out his career back in Detroit in 1963 and 1964 and retired with a .255 average, 62 home runs, and 356 RBIs in 1,062 games. Mississippi elected him to its Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 210 | 2 | 40 | 91 | 49 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 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: #173 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #9 American League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #19 Gates Brown
- #37 Fred Gladding
- #53 Dick McAuliffe
- #83 George Thomas
- #130 Al Kaline
- #153 Norm Cash
- #191 Phil Regan
- #206 Willie Horton
- #236 Dennis McLain
- #259 Tigers 1965 Rookie Stars
- #271 Don Wert
- #288 Jack Hamilton
- #335 Mickey Lolich
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #306 card?
It is card #306 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bubba Phillips of the Detroit Tigers.
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.