1961 Topps #288 Albie Pearson
About Albie Pearson
The season on the back of #288 is 1960, and it is a thin one: 48 games as a Baltimore reserve, .244 with 24 hits, one home run and six RBI. When his average slid to .231 in June the Orioles sent him to Miami of the International League, where he hit over .300 before a September recall. This is his first Topps card as an Angel, a fourth-series number.
Albert Gregory Pearson, born September 12, 1934 in Alhambra, California, was the shortest man in the major leagues, a left-handed hitter and thrower listed at 5 feet 5 inches and 140 pounds. The Boston Red Sox signed him as a pitcher in 1953, and he spent five years in their farm system without reaching the majors; the January 1958 trade that sent him to Washington for Pete Runnels finally got him a job. He hit .275 as the Senators' center fielder and won American League Rookie of the Year. A .188 start in 1959 cost him that job, Washington traded him to Baltimore for Lenny Green, and the Orioles had him back in the minors by 1960. Hearing that Los Angeles had been granted an expansion club, he wrote general manager Fred Haney asking to be taken, and Haney spent the last of the Angels' 30 draft picks on him. Six seasons with the Angels followed, ended by two ruptured discs from a spring training slide in 1966. He retired a .270 hitter with 831 hits, 485 runs and a .369 on-base percentage in 988 games, was ordained a minister in 1972, and in 1997 he and his wife Helen sold their house to found Father's Heart Ranch for abused and neglected boys. He died February 21, 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 319 | 0 | 5 | 147 | 109 | 34 | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #288 card?
It is card #288 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Albie Pearson of the Los Angeles Angels.
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.