1965 Topps #348 George Banks
About George Banks
Cleveland kept him at Triple-A almost all year. Banks did not surface in the majors until late September, and all four of his 1965 appearances came in the season's final ten days: one start at third base, three trips as a pinch-hitter, and a 1-for-5 line whose lone hit was a double off Baltimore on the closing weekend. The Indians finished fifth at 87-75. Card #348 is a fourth-series number, and it is the first Topps card to picture Banks in a Cleveland uniform. Two seasons removed from regular work, he was still getting full-size cardboard, which is why the 1965 issue turns up so readily in Indians team sets.
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 · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 210 | 3 | 37 | 101 | 46 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 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
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- #166 Indians 1965 Rookie Stars
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #348 card?
It is card #348 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Banks of the Cleveland Indians.
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.