1961 Topps #580 Al Kaline
About this card
Cards #566-586 and #589 are the 22 Sporting News All-Stars, printed in the scarce seventh series - the toughest run in the set.
About Al Kaline
The 1961 pair reports a flat 1960: .278 with 15 home runs and 68 runs batted in over 147 games, the one season Kaline spent entirely in center field after Harvey Kuenn was traded to Cleveland. Detroit brought Bill Bruton in from Milwaukee that winter and moved Kaline back to right. Card #429 sits in the fifth series; #580, a Sporting News All-Star, is a high number from the seventh series.
Al Kaline spent his entire 22-season career with the Detroit Tigers, signing out of Baltimore's Southern High School in 1953 and stepping straight into the majors at 18 without a day in the minor leagues. In 1955, at 20, he hit .340 with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in to become the youngest batting champion in big-league history. The long tie to one franchise made him Mr. Tiger. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games and won ten Gold Gloves (1957-1959 and 1961-1967) in right field, where his arm was rated the finest of its day, all of it done on a left foot deformed by childhood osteomyelitis that cost him two inches of bone. His one World Series, in 1968, brought a .379 average, two home runs and eight runs batted in as Detroit beat St. Louis in seven games. He finished with 3,007 hits, 498 doubles, 399 home runs and a .297 average, the twelfth man to reach 3,000 hits, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 on the first ballot with 88.3 percent of the vote. He called Tigers games on television from 1975 to 2002 and worked in the front office until his death in 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,196 | 2 | 53 | 360 | 329 | 219 | 118 | 113 | 2 |
| SGC | 278 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 63 | 58 | 58 | 50 | 5 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. PSA counts are straight grades only; PSA half grades (PSA 1.5 among them) and qualified slabs are not included. SGC half grades fold down (8.5→8). Slabs of the two cards printed #463 are joined by description, never by number alone.
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Related cards
More Al Kaline in this set: #429
Team card: #51 Detroit Tigers Team
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #13 Chuck Cottier
- #14 Don Mossi
- #37 Charlie Maxwell
- #67 Ossie Virgil
- #83 Bob Bruce
- #95 Norm Cash
- #112 Chico Fernandez
- #151 Jim Donohue
- #171 Paul Foytack
- #192 Dick Brown
- #208 Larry Osborne
- #223 Bob Scheffing
- #243 Frank Lary
- #251 Bill Bruton
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #580 card?
It is card #580 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers. Cards #566-586 and #589 are the 22 Sporting News All-Stars, printed in the scarce seventh series - the toughest run in the set.
Why is #580 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-589) from the seventh and last print series - the scarce end of the set, including the 22 Sporting News All-Stars.
How many cards are in the 1961 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 596 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 589, but #426, #587 and #588 were never issued and two different cards were printed #463 - Jack Fisher and the Milwaukee Braves Team card, catalogued 463b - and eight cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, 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 2026-10-05.