1965 Topps #299 Jerry Zimmerman


About Jerry Zimmerman
Number 299 falls in the fourth series of 1965 Topps. It arrives for the best year Zimmerman had. With Earl Battey hurt, he caught 43 of the Twins' first 75 games and the club won 31 of them, and manager Sam Mele called him the best receiver in the American League. He hit the first home run of his major league life on June 6, played 83 games in all, and led American League catchers with a .997 fielding percentage. In the World Series the Twins lost to the Dodgers in seven games, he went in twice as a late-inning defensive replacement, and his only at-bat ended Game Three on a double play against Claude Osteen.
Gerald Robert Zimmerman was a catcher who played eight major league seasons for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins between 1961 and 1968. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 21, 1934 and raised in Milwaukie, Oregon, he signed with the Boston Red Sox in June 1952 for a reported $80,000 bonus and spent eight years in their farm system, reaching Triple-A Minneapolis in 1958 under player-manager Gene Mauch and catching the Millers to the American Association and Junior World Series titles. Released by the Red Sox and then the Orioles in 1959, he signed with Cincinnati and reached the majors at 26 in 1961, working more games behind the plate than any other Reds catcher during their pennant-winning season. Traded to Minnesota in January 1962 for outfielder Dan Dobbek, he spent seven seasons as a backup valued for his glove and his easy clubhouse presence rather than his bat, finishing at .204 with three home runs in 483 games. He later coached for Mauch in Montreal and Minnesota through 1980, scouted for the Yankees and Orioles, and umpired an inning of a major league game during the 1978 umpires' strike. He died in Neskowin, Oregon, in 1998.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 207 | 0 | 28 | 111 | 38 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 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: #24 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #1 American League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
- #5 American League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #11 American League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #39 Gerry Arrigo
- #62 Jim Kaat
- #90 Rich Rollins
- #108 Don Mincher
- #122 Bill Pleis
- #157 Zoilo Versalles
- #171 Jim Roland
- #180 Bob Allison
- #201 Twins 1965 Rookie Stars
- #216 Al Worthington
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #299 card?
It is card #299 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Zimmerman of the Minnesota Twins.
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.