1965 Topps #215 Pete Ward
About Pete Ward
Card #215 lands Ward in the 1965 Topps set's third series just as his career turned. Riding as a passenger after a hockey game early that season, he was rear-ended and left with whiplash, and teammate Tommy John hurt his neck in the same crash. Ward woke the next morning stiff and said he was never comfortable again; by July his neck was in traction in a hospital. He got into 138 games but fell to .247 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs. He was also slated for the June 7 Sports Illustrated cover that year, only for the editors to replace him with Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston.
Pete Ward was a Canadian-born third baseman who appeared in 973 games over nine major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. Born in Montreal on July 26, 1937, the son of Montreal Maroons hockey star Jimmy Ward, he moved to Portland, Oregon at age eight and became the first Lewis and Clark College player to reach the majors. Baltimore signed him in 1958, and after five minor league seasons he debuted with the Orioles on September 21, 1962, delivering a two-run single in his first at bat. The following January the Orioles traded him to Chicago in the blockbuster that brought Luis Aparicio to Baltimore. Installed as the White Sox third baseman in 1963, Ward hit .295 with 22 home runs and was named The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year. A car accident early in 1965 left him with a neck injury he never shook, and he spent the rest of his career as a corner infielder and outfielder before a final season in New York in 1970. Ward later managed in the minors and coached for the Braves, entered the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 and died in 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 224 | 1 | 19 | 113 | 61 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 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: #234 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #7 American League 1964 ERA Leaders
- #9 American League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #41 White Sox 1965 Rookie Stars
- #58 Fred Talbot
- #70 Bill Skowron
- #81 Don Buford
- #89 Mike Hershberger
- #125 Juan Pizarro
- #146 Ron Hansen
- #183 Dave Nicholson
- #198 Smoky Burgess
- #208 Tommy John
- #253 Danny Cater
- #276 Hoyt Wilhelm
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #215 card?
It is card #215 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Ward of the Chicago White Sox.
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.