1965 Topps #34 Cal Koonce
About Cal Koonce
Topps issued no Koonce card in 1964, so number 34 in the 1965 first series is his first since the 1963 set; he is still a Cub. The back covers a 1964 spent almost entirely at Triple-A Salt Lake City, where he made 36 starts and went 11-15 with a 3.48 ERA over 238 innings for the Bees. That work earned a late recall to Chicago, where he pitched six games, started two and finished the year 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in 31 innings. It was a quiet rebound from 1963, when he had gone 2-6 with a 4.58 ERA and been sent down in June.
Calvin Lee Koonce, a right-handed pitcher born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on November 18, 1940, grew up in Hope Mills and played baseball and basketball at Campbell College, then a two-year school, where he earned junior college All-American honors in 1961. The Cubs signed him that May, and he reached Chicago in April 1962. Over parts of ten seasons with the Cubs, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox through 1971 he went 47-49 with a 3.78 ERA, 504 strikeouts and 24 saves in 334 games, 90 of them starts, moving from the rotation to the bullpen as he went. His best year came in 1968 with the Mets, and he was a reliable relief arm on the 1969 World Series champions under Gil Hodges. A Campbell man like Gaylord Perry, Koonce admitted while still active that he loaded an occasional pitch with perspiration. He later coached seven seasons at his alma mater, Campbell University, retiring in 1986 as its winningest baseball coach at 174-123 and as Big South Coach of the Year, and he was inducted into the Campbell Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. He scouted for the Texas Rangers, ran the minor league Fayetteville Generals, and died of lymphoma on October 28, 1993, at 52.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 254 | 5 | 21 | 142 | 65 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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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Team card: #91 Chicago Cubs
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #34 card?
It is card #34 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Cal Koonce of the Chicago Cubs.
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.