1961 Topps #252 Bill Short
About Bill Short
Card #252 is a third-series issue, and it lists Short with the New York Yankees a year after his 1960 debut season in the Bronx, when he went 3-5 with a 4.79 ERA in ten starts split around two trips back to Richmond. He never threw a major league pitch in 1961: a sore elbow put him on the disabled list before the season began, surgery removed bone chips and spurs, and he was not activated until late July, leaving him 1-1 in 13 games for the Virginians.
William Ross Short, a 5-foot-9 left-hander from Kingston, New York, was signed by Yankees scout Paul Krichell in 1955 out of Newburgh Free Academy. He climbed from the Class-D Appalachian League through the Evangeline League and Binghamton, breaking out in 1959 at Triple-A Richmond, where a 17-6, 2.48 year made him an International League All-Star and the league's Most Valuable Pitcher. After Army service from October 1959 to April 1960 he won his April 23 Yankees debut as a starter against Baltimore, but a strained elbow and, in 1961, surgery for bone chips and spurs stalled him; the Orioles took him in the November 1961 Rule 5 draft. He spent the next four and a half years in the Baltimore system, mostly at Triple-A Rochester. Apart from a six-start recall to the Orioles in 1966, every big-league inning he threw after 1960 came in relief, for Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, the Mets and finally Cincinnati in 1969. He finished 5-11 with a 4.73 ERA in 73 games, 16 of them starts, including a six-hit shutout of Minnesota on July 1, 1966, the only shutout of his career. He later served as a Pirates minor league pitching instructor, entered the International League Hall of Fame in 2009, and died in 2022 in Sarasota, Florida.
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 | 319 | 1 | 22 | 134 | 100 | 33 | 13 | 16 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 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 #252 card?
It is card #252 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Short of the New York Yankees.
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.