1951 Topps Red Back #37 Wes Westrum
About Wes Westrum
Westrum caught 139 games for the Giants in 1950, more than double the 62 he had caught in 1949. The 140 games he played overall were the most of his 11 seasons. He hit .236 with 103 hits in 437 at-bats, and his 23 home runs, 71 RBIs and 68 runs scored all stood as career highs; the year before he had managed 7 homers and 28 RBIs in 169 at-bats.
Wes Westrum was a defensive-minded catcher for the New York Giants from 1947 to 1957, a bruising right-handed hitter who traded batting average for power and patience. Born in tiny Clearbrook, Minnesota, he became the Giants' regular catcher in 1950 and set a National League fielding record for catchers that year with a .999 percentage. He was a two-time All-Star, in 1952 and 1953, and caught in both the 1951 and 1954 World Series, the latter a sweep of Cleveland. Over 11 seasons he hit .217 with 96 home runs and 315 RBIs in 919 games, playing through a long list of broken and jammed fingers common to catchers of his era. He retired as a player in 1958 and moved into coaching, later managing the New York Mets from 1965 to 1967 and the San Francisco Giants in 1974-75. He finished his managerial career with a 260-366 record and later scouted for the Atlanta Braves. Westrum died in his hometown of Clearbrook in 2002.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 286 | 0 | 22 | 74 | 34 | 48 | 68 | 40 | 0 |
| SGC | 31 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: Team card New York Giants
More New York Giants cards:
- Red Back #21 Larry Jansen
- Red Back #32 Henry Thompson
- Red Back #41 Whitey Lockman
- Red Back #48 Eddie Stanky
- Red Back #50 Monte Irvin
- Connie Mack's All-Star Christy Mathewson
- Major League All-Star Eddie Stanky
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Red Back #37 card?
It is Red Back #37 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Wes Westrum of the New York Giants.
How many cards are in the 1951 Topps Baseball set?
135 cards across five issues - the Red Backs and Blue Backs (52 each), nine Team cards, and eleven each of Connie Mack's All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars. With the Zernial and Holmes variations and both versions of each Team card the master set is 146. All 135 count toward the full set; Jim Konstanty, Robin Roberts and Eddie Stanky, the three rarest Major League All-Stars, are so rarely seen that collectors often count a complete set as 132 without them.
Sources: PSA, BaseballCardPedia, Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-26.