1965 Topps #291 Jerry Lynch
About Jerry Lynch
1965 Topps #291, issued in the set's fourth series, finds Lynch in his third year back with the Pirates. He opened at 1-for-12, then got a start in right field on May 2 when Roberto Clemente was benched, and over a seven-game run in the lineup he hit .542 with three home runs, lifting his average from .083 to .389. The bench work ran the other way: he batted just .128 in 44 pinch-hit plate appearances. He finished at .281 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 73 games, and spent part of the year platooning in left with young Willie Stargell, coaching him on left-handed pitching.
Gerald Thomas Lynch was born July 17, 1929, in Bay City, Michigan, though his baseball cards and the encyclopedias of the day printed 1930. He played 13 major league seasons from 1954 to 1966, opening with the Pittsburgh Pirates after a Rule 5 draft pick out of the Yankees farm system, moving to Cincinnati the same way in December 1956, and returning to Pittsburgh in a May 1963 trade that sent outfielder Bob Skinner to the Reds. A left-handed hitter with limited range in the outfield, he turned a crowded depth chart into a specialty and became one of the most feared pinch hitters of his era. His 18 pinch-hit home runs were a major league record when he retired, stood until 1984, and remain the National League mark. Over 1,184 games he batted .277 with 798 hits, 115 home runs and 470 RBI. His best year was 1961, when he hit .315, slugged .624, and helped the Reds take their first National League pennant in 21 years. Pirates broadcaster Jim Woods called him the Allison Park Sweeper for his suburban Pittsburgh address and his machine-like work at the plate. He was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, the club's team honor, in 1988, and died March 31, 2012, in Austell, Georgia.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 259 | 3 | 31 | 120 | 71 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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: #209 Pittsburgh Pirates
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- #25 Al McBean
- #54 Joe Gibbon
- #69 Bill Virdon
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- #121 Gene Alley
- #143 Pirates 1965 Rookie Stars
- #160 Bob Clemente
- #195 Bob Veale
- #218 Dick Schofield
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- #265 Jim Pagliaroni
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #291 card?
It is card #291 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Lynch of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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.