1967 Topps #538 J.C. Martin
About J.C. Martin
Martin caught 96 games and hit .234 for the 1967 White Sox, who hung in a four-way pennant fight into the final week on a 2.45 team ERA and defense, then lost their last five and finished three games behind Boston. On September 10 he was behind the plate for Joe Horlen's 6-0 no-hitter over Detroit in the first game of a Comiskey Park doubleheader; with two out in the ninth, Horlen told him to call the last hitter himself, and Martin worked Dick McAuliffe away for a grounder to Ron Hansen. On November 27 the Sox sent him to the Mets to complete an in-season trade for Ken Boyer. Card #538 is a high number from the seventh series.
Joseph Clifton Martin went by his initials because both of his grandparents were named Joseph, and the Southern habit of using initials stuck. Born December 13, 1936, in Axton, Virginia, he signed with the Chicago White Sox as a first baseman before the 1956 season and debuted on September 10, 1959, too late in the year to be eligible for that fall's World Series. Short on power for a corner infielder, he went back to the minors in 1962 to learn catching under Les Moss, and from 1963 he was Chicago's regular receiver, a left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower whose working life was spent chasing the knuckleballs of Hoyt Wilhelm and Eddie Fisher. He caught Joe Horlen's no-hitter in 1967 and was traded to the New York Mets that November, where he backed up Jerry Grote and wound up at the center of a disputed bunt play in the World Series the Mets won in 1969. Three seasons with the Chicago Cubs closed out fourteen years, 908 games and a .222 average. He coached for the Cubs in 1974 and worked White Sox telecasts alongside Harry Caray in 1975.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 383 | 4 | 40 | 168 | 97 | 47 | 19 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 30 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 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. PSA registers a row for every one of the 624 states; SGC lists no separate row for the #149 white-streak state.
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Related cards
Team card: #573 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #9 Ron Hansen
- #29 Tom McCraw
- #52 Dennis Higgins
- #67 Ken Berry
- #81 Eddie Stanky
- #107 Joel Horlen
- #143 Sox Sockers
- #159 Bruce Howard
- #178 John Buzhardt
- #208 Jack Lamabe
- #232 Don Buford
- #233 American League 1966 ERA Leaders
- #259 Don Dennis
- #286 Wayne Causey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #538 card?
It is card #538 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing J.C. Martin of the Chicago White Sox.
Why is #538 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #534-609 - the scarce end of the set, holding both Hall of Fame rookies (Carew #569, Seaver #581). Twenty-two of the 76 are accepted double prints, so scarcity varies card by card inside the run.
How many cards are in the 1967 Topps Baseball set?
609 cards, tracked as 624 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 609 without a gap - no number was skipped and none was used twice - and 15 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-12.