1961 Topps #518 Andy Carey
About Andy Carey
Carey opened 1961 as Kansas City's third baseman and hit .244 with three home runs in 39 games before the Athletics packaged him with Don Larsen, Ray Herbert and Al Pilarcik in a June 10 trade to the Chicago White Sox. He batted .266 over 56 games the rest of the way. His card, #518, falls in the sixth series; he had been in the big leagues since 1952.
Andy Carey, born Andrew Arthur Hexem in Oakland, California, and raised in Alameda, played third base in the majors for eleven seasons. His mother remarried a divorce lawyer named Kenneth Carey, and the boy took his stepfather's surname. Out of Alameda High and Saint Mary's College of California, he signed with the Yankees for a $60,000 bonus after scout Joe Devine watched him in semipro ball at Weiser, Idaho. Carey debuted for New York in May 1952 and had the third-base job by 1954, batting .302 with 65 RBIs in 122 games, then led the American League with 11 triples in 1955. He was part of two World Series championship clubs, in 1956 and 1958, and two plays of his, in the second and eighth innings, helped preserve Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 Series against Brooklyn. With Clete Boyer emerging at third base, New York traded him to the Kansas City Athletics for Bob Cerv on May 19, 1960, and he finished out with the Athletics, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. In 938 games he batted .260 with 741 hits, 64 home runs and 350 RBIs. He worked as a stockbroker, and died on December 15, 2011, at 80.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 398 | 2 | 56 | 203 | 93 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
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: #297 Kansas City Athletics Team
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #8 Dick Williams
- #24 Ken Johnson
- #39 Leo Posada
- #57 Marv Throneberry
- #94 Johnny Kucks
- #106 Whitey Herzog
- #119 A's Big Armor
- #143 Russ Snyder
- #177 Don Larsen
- #197 Dick Hall
- #199 Bob Boyd
- #212 Haywood Sullivan
- #224 Joe Gordon
- #248 Ed Keegan
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #518 card?
It is card #518 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Andy Carey of the Kansas City Athletics.
Why is #518 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 447-522) - noticeably tougher than the first five, easier than the true highs.
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.