1961 Topps
Total Cards: 587
Rating: 7.9 (133 ratings)
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Top Sets: #32
Cards
Trivia |
- 1st set to include Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins cards.
- First set that featured Checklists, League Leaders, and Topps Rookie All-Star trophy cards.
Hall of Fame rookie cards for Billy Williams, Juan Marichal and Ron Santo.
Set featured 6 different Mickey Mantle cards. - Cards #426, 587, and 588 were not issued.
#426 was supposed to be the Braves team; that card was instead issued #463 - the same as Jack Fisher. - First set to include the new Washington Senators, an expansion team to replace the team that moved and became the Minnesota Twins.
- Packs of cards also contained two Topps Stamps. The stamps could be collected into an album which was available for an additional 10 cents.
- #14 Don Mossi - UER: "January 11, 1930" should be "January 11, 1929" as birthdate on back
- #21 Zoilo Versalles - UER: Born 1940, should be 1939
- #28 Hector Lopez - UER: Born "July 9, 1932", should be "July 9, 1929"
- #52 George Crowe - UER: Born "Mar. 22, 1923", should be "Mar. 22, 1921"
- #57 Marv Throneberry - UER: Hometown should be Collierville, Tennessee, not Collierville, Texas.
- #64 Alex Grammas - UER: "April 3, 1927" should be "April 3, 1926" as birthdate on back
- #67 Ossie Virgil - UER: "196" should be "149" for H for 1959 in stats on back
- #87 Joe Amalfitano - UER: "46" should be "36" for G for 1955 in stats on back
- #90 Jerry Staley - UER: Back of card states born in 1928; should be 1920
- #99 Don Buddin - UER: "66" should be "6" for HR for 1960 in stats on back
- #124 J.C. Martin - UER: "1953" should be "153" in 2nd cartoon on back
- #127 Ron Kline - UER: "8.18" should be ".818" for PCT for 1951 for Bartlesville in stats on back
- #144 Jim Coker - The coach in the background is #39 Andy Cohen. He won the only game he ever managed for the the Phillies. Eddie Sawyer stepped down after losing the first game of the 1960 season (after a subpar 1959 year), and Andy picked up the slack until Gene Mauch could take over for game #3.
- #149 Bob Oldis - UER: Born on "January 5, 1929", should be "January 5, 1928"
- #160 Whitey Ford - UER: 5'0" should be 5'10" as Height on back
- #199 Bob Boyd - UER: Back of card states born October 1, 1926; should be October 1, 1919
- #214 Danny Murphy - UER: "a day after his 18th birthday" was actually 2 months and 5 days before his 18th birthday in 3rd line of text on back
- #220 Al Dark - UER: "January 7, 1923" should be "January 7, 1922" as birthdate on back
- #255 Vic Power - UER: "November 1, 1931" should be "November 1, 1927" as birthdate on back
- #280 Frank Howard - Frank Howard was named to the 1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Team but his #280 card is missing the trophy designation.
- #307 1960 World Series Game #2 - Mantle Slams 2 Homers - UER: "THREE RUNS" should be "TWO RUNS" in ninth inning recap for Pirates on back
- #332 Dutch Dotterer - The card for Dutch Dotterer #332 shows his own brother Tommy instead.
- #371 Bill Skowron - UER: "December 18, 1931" should be "December 18, 1930" as birthdate on back
- #380 Minnie Minoso - UER: "November 29, 1923" should be "November 29, 1925" as birthdate on back
- #388 Bob Clemente - His name was not Bob. He made it explicitly clear his name was Roberto. The nicknames Bob and Bobby were disrespectful to his heritage.
- #414 Dick Donovan - UER: "1953" should be "1954" in 2nd cartoon on back
- #422 Bud Daley - UER: "October 7, 1933" should be "October 7, 1932" as birthdate on back
- #454 Pumpsie Green - UER: "October 27, 1934" should be "October 27, 1933" as birthdate on back
- #493 Don Zimmer - UER: "A.L." should be "N.L." for 1954 to 1959 in stats on back
- #505 Red Schoendienst - UER: Career batting average listed on back as 2.89; should be .289
- #507 Pete Burnside - UER: Teams and values from 1952-1959 are actually for Bud Byerly in stats on back
- #545 Hoyt Wilhelm - UER: "July 26, 1923" should be "July 26, 1922" as birthdate on back
User Comments |
It's ben a while so I'm not 100% sure this was my first pack I opened or set I wanted to collect, but if not it would have been the 1960 Topps. The fun part (as well) was how I raised the funds to buy them ... which was collecting empty pop bottles which has either a 1 or 2 cent return deposit. The huge number of stars in these sets was amazing! | ||
A ton of "Hatless Wonders" in this set. Among the Twins, and expansion Senators and Angels, tough to find a guy with a hat. Or a hat that's not airbrushed. | ||
This is the first set I 'completed.' I started as a kid when the cards were new and fortunately my mother never threw them away. Actually she never threw anything much away, but that's a different story. When the hobby got hot again in the early 1980s I got all my cards and eventually finished the set. It went in a binder and up on a shelf while I collected a lot of other things. Only recently have I thought about the errors and variations that have surfaced since I worked on the set, so I'm starting to track those down now.
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Forum |
| Subject | Replies | Last Post |
| 1961 Topps Baseball | 4 | Mar 2, 2026 6:37 PM by eric51 |
| Orioles 'Magic Rub-Off | 1 | May 7, 2022 3:18 PM by Bowersbird |
| 61 topps baseball set completed | 14 | Dec 23, 2019 7:03 PM by Sportzcommish |
| Removing Glue Spots from the Back of Your Vintage | 0 | Sep 15, 2017 8:40 PM by RoundtheDiamond87 |
| Looking Back 55 Years to the 1961 Topps Baseball Set | 1 | Sep 20, 2016 6:43 PM by Joeyd011 |
External Links |
- BaseballCardPedia: 1961 Topps (R-414-20-A)
- PSA Article: Collecting the 1961 Topps Baseball Set
- PSA Article: The 1961 Topps Baseball Set: In a Word, "Expansive"
- PSA Price Guide: 1961 Topps
- Sports Collectors Daily: Vintage Set of the Week: 1961 Topps Baseball
- Sports Collectors Digest: The Magic of Vintage Rub-Offs
