1965 Topps #245 Joe Pepitone
About Joe Pepitone
Card #245 is a third-series card in the 1965 Topps set -- Pepitone was entering his fourth big-league season. This is the year the glove got its due: he won the Gold Glove at first base, the first Yankees first baseman ever to receive one, and led American League first basemen in fielding percentage. He also made the All-Star team for the third year running. The bat cooled, though, to .247 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs in 143 games, his power down by ten homers from 1964.
Joe Pepitone, born October 9, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, was a left-handed first baseman and center fielder who broke in with the New York Yankees in 1962 and played through 1973 with the Astros, Cubs, and Braves, closing out that final season with the Yakult Atoms in Japan. A three-time All-Star (1963-1965) and three-time Gold Glove winner at first base (1965, 1966, 1969), he hit .258 across twelve seasons with 219 home runs, 721 RBIs, and seven grand slams, and placed among the American League's top 10 in home runs three times and in total bases and RBIs twice each. Signed by the Yankees out of Brooklyn's Manual Training High School for a $25,000 bonus in August 1958, he took over first base from Moose Skowron in 1963 and was the first Yankees first baseman ever to win a Gold Glove. As gifted as he was undisciplined, Pepitone embraced New York nightlife and later wrote candidly about his career and personal struggles in the memoir Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud. He died March 13, 2023, at 82.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 391 | 2 | 27 | 119 | 94 | 53 | 43 | 53 | 0 |
| SGC | 41 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 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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- #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
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- #30 Jim Bouton
- #65 Tony Kubek
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- #115 Bobby Richardson
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #245 card?
It is card #245 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees.
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.