1965 Topps #555 Jack Baldschun
About Jack Baldschun
Card #555 is a high number in the 1965 set's seventh series, inside its short-print zone. It is the last of his four Topps cards in a Phillies uniform. On June 7, 1965 he made the 292nd relief appearance of his career, breaking the Phillies record held by Jim Konstanty, but the year itself was a grind: 65 games, a 5-8 record, a 3.82 ERA and only six saves as leads got away and Mauch pushed him to open batters with fastballs and sliders instead of the screwball. Five Philadelphia seasons left him 39-34 with 59 saves.
Jack Edward Baldschun (1936-2023) was a right-handed relief pitcher who spent nine major league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and San Diego Padres between 1961 and 1970. Selected by Philadelphia in the 1960 Rule 5 draft, he mastered a screwball that gave hitters fits and became the Phillies' bullpen anchor, leading the club in saves for three straight years while earning a reputation, in manager Gene Mauch's words, for a rubber arm and ideal temperament. A December 1965 trade sent him from Philadelphia to Baltimore and then, days later, to Cincinnati as part of the deal that brought Frank Robinson to the Orioles. He finished his career with a 48-41 record, 60 saves, a 3.69 ERA and 555 strikeouts in 457 games, all of them in relief. After baseball he settled in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and worked in lumber sales. He was not elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 317 | 2 | 44 | 150 | 72 | 33 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #338 Philadelphia Phillies
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #4 National League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #20 Jim Bunning
- #36 Bobby Wine
- #52 Ed Roebuck
- #72 Tony Gonzalez
- #107 Phillies 1965 Rookie Stars
- #123 Frank Thomas
- #163 John Briggs
- #184 John Boozer
- #203 Dallas Green
- #225 Bo Belinsky
- #248 Gus Triandos
- #280 Dick Stuart
- #296 Tony Taylor
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #555 card?
It is card #555 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jack Baldschun of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Is 1965 Topps #555 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last series, #507-598. Unlike most 1960s Topps sets the 1965 highs are not scarce as a run - the premium sits on the short-printed cards inside #523-598. It is also a short-print zone card. Forty-four of the 76 cards in #523-598 were short-printed; #507-522 was not. The zone is stated as a range because the catalogs disagree on exactly which cards, so no single card is marked.
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.