1961 Topps #205 Bill Pierce
About Bill Pierce
His last card in a White Sox uniform, and the close of 13 seasons in Chicago. Pierce was 34 and still good enough to make his seventh and final All-Star team and to start the home opener, but the sore hip and shoulder that had bothered him since 1959 were telling: 10-9 with a 3.80 ERA and only five complete games, three years after leading the league in that category for the third straight season. He left town holding the club's career strikeout record, which he still holds. On November 30 the White Sox traded him and Don Larsen to the San Francisco Giants for four young players. Card No. 205 comes from the set's third series.
Walter William Pierce was born April 2, 1927, in Detroit and grew up in Highland Park, where he did not play organized ball until he was 15 and took the mound only after his sandlot team's pitcher left for a club with better uniforms. Six shutouts as a high school junior earned him the nickname Mr. Zero, and his hometown Tigers signed him for a $15,000 bonus; he debuted in June 1945, weeks after turning 18. Worried about his wildness, Detroit traded him to the White Sox in November 1948 for catcher Aaron Robinson and $10,000, a deal historians rank among the most one-sided ever made. In Chicago the slightly built left-hander became the American League's best southpaw: seven All-Star selections, the 1953 strikeout title, a league-leading 1.97 ERA in 1955 that was the only mark under 2.00 by a qualifier between 1947 and 1962, 20 wins in 1956 and again in 1957, and a near-perfect game against Washington on June 27, 1958. Three seasons in San Francisco closed out a career of 211 wins and a 3.27 ERA. The White Sox retired his No. 19 in 1987 and unveiled a statue of him in 2007. He died July 31, 2015.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 337 | 1 | 32 | 161 | 88 | 37 | 11 | 6 | 1 |
| SGC | 30 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 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 #205 card?
It is card #205 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Pierce of the Chicago White Sox.
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.