1966 Topps #268 John Blanchard
About John Blanchard
1966 Topps #268 is a third-series card and a curiosity: it lists Blanchard with the Atlanta Braves, a club he never played a game for. The franchise moved south from Milwaukee for 1966, and his whole Braves career was already behind him, ten games in the fall of 1965 in which his only National League hit was a home run. His favorite story from them was pinch-hitting for Hank Aaron, who had fouled a pitch off his own foot; Blanchard took over with two strikes and drew a walk. He sat out all of 1966, then failed to stick at the Braves' 1968 spring camp and was released on the last day.
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 | 227 | 5 | 41 | 110 | 48 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 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. 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: #326 Atlanta Braves
More Atlanta Braves cards:
- #10 Tony Cloninger
- #28 Phil Niekro
- #49 Woody Woodward
- #84 Braves 1966 Rookie Stars
- #96 Felipe Alou
- #130 Joe Torre
- #153 Rico Carty
- #168 Dan Osinski
- #184 Denis Menke
- #200 Ed Mathews
- #215 National League 1965 Batting Leaders
- #223 National League 1965 Pitching Leaders
- #237 Billy O'Dell
- #252 Denver Lemaster
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #268 card?
It is card #268 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Blanchard of the Atlanta Braves.
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.