1961 Topps #62 Al Pilarcik
About Al Pilarcik
Card number 62 in the 1961 Topps set, part of the first series, pictures Pilarcik with the Baltimore Orioles, the club he had joined in 1957. It is a plain low-number card; Topps had already pictured him in earlier sets, among them card 259 in 1958. It arrived just after his fourth and last season in Baltimore, the 1960 year that put him in right field for Ted Williams' farewell. Before 1961 was over he had gone back to the Kansas City Athletics and then to the Chicago White Sox, where he played his final big league game on September 24.
Alfred James Pilarcik was a left-handed-hitting, left-throwing outfielder who played six major league seasons between 1956 and 1961 for the Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox. Born in Whiting, Indiana on July 3, 1930, he reached the majors with Kansas City on July 13, 1956. Primarily a right fielder, he settled in as a Baltimore regular, playing 142 games in 1957 and batting .278 with nine home runs and 49 runs batted in, then 141 games in 1958 and 130 in 1959. Listed at 5-foot-10, he was a dependable glove, finishing with a .986 fielding percentage across all three outfield spots. He is best remembered for September 28, 1960 at Fenway Park, Ted Williams' last game: Pilarcik caught a Williams drive near the right-field bullpen wall in the fifth, then in the eighth watched Williams' 521st and final home run clear that bullpen. He closed out in 1961 with a second stint in Kansas City and a finish with the White Sox, retiring at .256 with 22 home runs and 143 RBI in 668 games. He later taught 33 years at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana, coaching its baseball team for 24 seasons, and was elected to the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. He died September 20, 2010.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 496 | 3 | 72 | 275 | 102 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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
Team card: #159 Baltimore Orioles Team
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
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- #26 Wes Stock
- #71 Jerry Adair
- #85 Jerry Walker
- #102 Gene Stephens
- #125 Steve Barber
- #131 Paul Richards
- #140 Gus Triandos
- #182 Dave Nicholson
- #218 Hal Brown
- #240 Ron Hansen
- #256 Billy Hoeft
- #277 Hank Foiles
- #295 Milt Pappas
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #62 card?
It is card #62 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Pilarcik of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.