1965 Topps #495 Joe Christopher
About Joe Christopher
A finger injury in spring training slowed Christopher in 1965 and the Mets had grown high on rookie Ron Swoboda, but he still worked 148 games, splitting his outfield time between left field and right. The bat did not come back: 109 hits in 437 at-bats, a .249 average, five home runs and 40 runs batted in, a long way from the year before. Card 495 of the 1965 Topps set came out in the sixth series. It is the last Topps card to show him in a Mets uniform.
Joe Christopher was born in Frederiksted, St. Croix, on December 13, 1935, and in 1959 became the first man actually born in the U.S. Virgin Islands to reach the majors since Alphonso Gerard. He debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 26, 1959, playing right field in Harvey Haddix's twelve perfect innings at Milwaukee, and spent three seasons there as a reserve behind Bob Skinner, Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente, valued above all for his speed. He appeared in three games of the 1960 World Series and scored two runs for the champions. The expansion New York Mets took him with their fifth pick in the 1961 expansion draft, though two more seasons passed before he settled in as a regular. His finest year was 1964: .300 with 16 home runs and 76 runs batted in. Traded to the Boston Red Sox after 1965, he was finished in the majors by mid-1966, closing at .260 with 29 homers and 173 RBIs across 638 games. He also starred in the Puerto Rican Winter League, winning several championships and leading it in steals four times. He died in Edgewood, Maryland, on October 3, 2023.
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 | 2 | 48 | 124 | 60 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #495 card?
It is card #495 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Christopher of the New York Mets.
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.