1966 Topps #272 Jack Baldschun
About Jack Baldschun
Card #272 sits in the 1966 set's third series. It is his first Topps issue in a Cincinnati uniform, and the Reds were the organization he had pitched for in the minors before Philadelphia drafted him away. National League hitters had seen the screwball for five years by then, and it showed: 42 games, a 1-5 record, a 5.49 ERA and, for the first time in his big-league career, no saves at all.
Jack Edward Baldschun (1936-2023) was a right-handed relief pitcher who spent nine major league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and San Diego Padres between 1961 and 1970. Selected by Philadelphia in the 1960 Rule 5 draft, he mastered a screwball that gave hitters fits and became the Phillies' bullpen anchor, leading the club in saves for three straight years while earning a reputation, in manager Gene Mauch's words, for a rubber arm and ideal temperament. A December 1965 trade sent him from Philadelphia to Baltimore and then, days later, to Cincinnati as part of the deal that brought Frank Robinson to the Orioles. He finished his career with a 48-41 record, 60 saves, a 3.69 ERA and 555 strikeouts in 457 games, all of them in relief. After baseball he settled in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and worked in lumber sales. He was not elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 225 | 2 | 43 | 120 | 38 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #59 Cincinnati Reds
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- #140 Jim Maloney
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- #196 Don Pavletich
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- #219 National League 1965 RBI Leaders
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #272 card?
It is card #272 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jack Baldschun of the Cincinnati Reds.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, 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.