1965 Topps #542 Lou Klimchock
A high number inside the set's short-print zone; the hobby guides' short-print lists for the set differ in length.
About Lou Klimchock
The 1965 set puts Klimchock at 542 again, this time in the seventh print series, a high number inside the short-print zone. TCDB, Cardsmiths and BaseballCardPedia all list it as a short print, though the published short-print lists for the 1965 high numbers do not agree with one another. He is listed with the Milwaukee Braves, whose roster he made out of spring training as a utility infielder. The card follows a monster minor league season: at Triple-A Denver in 1964 he was named Pacific Coast League MVP, leading the league in batting at .334, in doubles and in total bases, driving in 112 runs and finishing second in triples, and he was picked as a Triple-A All-Star. Only ten of his games that year came with Milwaukee.
Louis Stephen Klimchock, a left-handed-hitting infielder from Hostetter, Pennsylvania, signed with the Kansas City Athletics in 1957 out of Latrobe High School, which fielded no baseball team; he played American Legion ball instead and was signed by scout Bruno Betzel. He tore up the Class C Pioneer League in 1958 at .389, then made history that September in Chicago, homering off a fellow teenager for his first major league hit. Over parts of 12 big league seasons between 1958 and 1970 he played mostly second and third base for the Athletics, Braves, Senators, Mets and Indians, but trades and long minor league stretches kept breaking up his career; his biggest year in the minors was a Pacific Coast League MVP season at Denver in 1964. His best major league season came late, in 1969 with Cleveland, when he hit .287 over a career-high 90 games. He finished at .232 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI in 318 games. He managed winter ball in Puerto Rico and two seasons at Reno, worked for Coors and then Coca-Cola, and has spent decades raising money for baseball alumni charities in Arizona.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 309 | 0 | 43 | 175 | 65 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 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: #426 Milwaukee Braves
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #2 National League 1964 Batting Leaders
- #23 Bob Tiefenauer
- #44 Wade Blasingame
- #63 Ty Cline
- #82 Braves 1965 Rookie Stars
- #106 Gene Oliver
- #127 Frank Lary
- #156 Bob Sadowski
- #170 Hank Aaron
- #182 Mike de la Hoz
- #200 Joe Torre
- #223 Dan Osinski
- #241 Mack Jones
- #269 Frank Bolling
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #542 card?
It is card #542 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lou Klimchock of the Milwaukee Braves.
Is 1965 Topps #542 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last series, #507-598. Unlike most 1960s Topps sets the 1965 highs are not scarce as a run - the premium sits on the short-printed cards inside #523-598. It is also a short-print zone card. Forty-four of the 76 cards in #523-598 were short-printed; #507-522 was not. The zone is stated as a range because the catalogs disagree on exactly which cards, so no single card is marked.
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.