1960 Topps #159 Jim Piersall
About Jim Piersall
James Anthony "Jimmy" Piersall signed with the Red Sox in 1948, turning down college offers and hometown pressure to sign with the Yankees, and reached Boston for six games in September 1950. He took to calling himself the "Waterbury Wizard," after his Connecticut hometown, a self-styled nickname his teammates never warmed to. His rookie season of 1952 unraveled into headline incidents — a fight with Billy Martin, ejections, a benching — that ended in a nervous breakdown and seven weeks of hospitalization and electroshock treatment at Westborough State Hospital, an ordeal he turned into the best-selling memoir Fear Strikes Out, later a film starring Anthony Perkins. Piersall rebuilt his career into stardom as one of the game's premier defensive center fielders, making the All-Star team in 1954 and 1956 and winning a Gold Glove in 1958. Traded to Cleveland that December for Vic Wertz and Gary Geiger, he is pictured here in an Indians uniform for his 1960 card, a season of renewed umpire clashes and a second round of psychiatric care before he settled down. He won a second Gold Glove in 1961, hitting .322, part of a 17-year, five-team career built on showmanship as much as skill — running the bases backward after his 100th home run, hiding behind Yankee Stadium monuments between innings.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 532 | 0 | 7 | 141 | 189 | 104 | 51 | 40 | 0 |
| SGC | 51 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-08-20. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. The Venezuelan issue, the 1960 Topps Tattoos and Bazooka are separate products and are not counted here.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Find on eBay
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #174 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #14 Jim Grant
- #30 Tito Francona
- #36 Russ Nixon
- #44 Bobby Locke
- #63 George Strickland
- #75 Vic Power
- #112 Jack Harshman
- #122 Don Dillard
- #139 Carl Mathias
- #178 Woodie Held
- #216 Joe Gordon
- #228 Ernie Johnson
- #243 Bubba Phillips
- #260 Power Plus
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1960 Topps #159 card?
It is card #159 of the 572-card 1960 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Piersall.
What is the 1960 Topps Venezuelan version?
Topps licensed a parallel printing for the Venezuelan market covering roughly the first 196 cards. It is a separate issue on thinner stock with Spanish text on the back, collected on its own and not part of finishing this 572-card set.
How many cards are in the 1960 Topps Baseball set?
572 cards, numbered 1-572, issued in seven series - the last Topps flagship printed entirely horizontally. Cards #375-440 exist on two back stocks, white and gray, which collectors chasing every printed variety count as 638 pieces of cardboard in all.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Cardboard Connection, the PSA price guide, 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 2026-08-20.