1965 Topps #294 Tim McCarver
About Tim McCarver
Card #294, a fourth-series issue, follows the October that made his name. He hit .288 with nine home runs and 52 RBI in 143 games in 1964, then took apart the Yankees in the World Series: a hit in all seven games, 11-for-23 for a .478 average, five runs driven in, and a three-run homer in the top of the tenth inning of Game Five that broke a 2-2 tie and won it 5-2. St. Louis finished the job in seven for its first title since 1946.
James Timothy McCarver signed with the St. Louis Cardinals out of Memphis in 1959 for a $75,000 bonus, turning down a football scholarship, and debuted that September at 17. A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, he shuttled between St. Louis and the minors for four seasons before taking the catching job for good in 1963. From there he was the everyday catcher on the best National League club of the decade: Bob Gibson's preferred battery mate, a World Series winner in 1964 and 1967, and a seven-game loser to Detroit in 1968. He made All-Star teams in 1966 and 1967 and finished runner-up to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the 1967 National League MVP award. Traded to Philadelphia after the 1969 season, he later played for Montreal, St. Louis again and Boston before returning to the Phillies as Steve Carlton's personal catcher, a job that stretched his career into a fourth decade in 1980. He retired with a .271 average, 97 home runs and 645 RBI over 21 seasons, then built a second career in the broadcast booth that outlasted his playing days, calling a then-record 23 World Series and winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 2012. The Cardinals inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2017; he died in 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 | 403 | 4 | 41 | 161 | 81 | 50 | 30 | 36 | 0 |
| SGC | 52 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #57 St. Louis Cardinals
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #6 National League 1964 RBI Leaders
- #10 National League 1964 Pitching Leaders
- #12 National League 1964 Strikeout Leaders
- #28 Barney Schultz
- #43 Mike Shannon
- #78 Dal Maxvill
- #100 Ken Boyer
- #116 Cards 1965 Rookie Stars
- #132 World Series Game #1 - Cards Take Opener
- #135 World Series Game #4 - Boyer's Grand-Slam
- #136 World Series Game #5 - 10th Inning Triumph
- #138 World Series Game #7 - Gibson Wins Finale
- #139 World Series - The Cards Celebrate
- #154 Bob Humphreys
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #294 card?
It is card #294 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tim McCarver of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.