1965 Topps #388 John Blanchard
About John Blanchard
1965 Topps #388, a fifth-series card, is the last Topps card to show Blanchard in pinstripes, and he wore them for only 12 games that year. He was hitting .147 when the Yankees traded him and pitcher Rollie Sheldon to the Kansas City Athletics on May 3 for catcher Doc Edwards. The deal broke him: teammates found him in tears in the trainer's room, and he said afterward that he had never felt so bad in his life. He batted .200 in 52 games for Charlie Finley's Athletics, a club that paraded a mule named Charlie O. onto the field, until Finley sold his contract to the Milwaukee Braves on September 9.
John Edwin Blanchard, born February 26, 1933, in Minneapolis, was a left-handed-hitting catcher and outfielder who spent nearly all of his major league career with the New York Yankees. Signed by New York in 1951 after a summer of semipro ball in Carroll, Iowa, he was turned into a catcher in the low minors at Bill Dickey's suggestion, lost two seasons to the U.S. Army, and debuted on September 25, 1955. Blocked by Yogi Berra and Elston Howard, he did not return to stay until 1959, then became the best-known reserve in the game, riding five straight Yankees pennants from 1960 through 1964 to a .345 average in 15 World Series games and a major league record ten World Series pinch-hit at-bats. He was catching when Bill Mazeroski's home run off Ralph Terry ended the 1960 Series. Blanchard finished with 516 games, 67 home runs and a .239 average, later worked as a color commentator on the first live game ESPN televised, and died in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, on March 25, 2009.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 265 | 4 | 30 | 115 | 58 | 29 | 12 | 15 | 2 |
| SGC | 26 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #388 card?
It is card #388 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Blanchard 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.