1961 Topps #504 Billy Consolo
About Billy Consolo
Released by Washington after the 1960 season, Consolo caught on with the relocated Minnesota Twins in 1961 on a look-see deal, made the club out of spring training, and then barely played: eleven games, five at-bats, his last appearance coming May 28 at second base. On June 1 the Twins shipped him to the Milwaukee Braves for Billy Martin and cash, and Milwaukee never used him in a big-league game, farming him out to Triple-A Vancouver instead. His 1961 Topps card, number 504, pictures him with the Twins and belongs to the sixth print series. He had been turning up in Topps sets since 1954.
William Angelo Consolo was born August 18, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Los Angeles, where he starred at Dorsey High School and won a national American Legion title with the Crenshaw Post 715 club in 1951. The most courted schoolboy on the West Coast, he signed with the Boston Red Sox for a reported $60,000 on February 2, 1953, the day he graduated, and the bonus rule parked him on a big-league bench at eighteen before he had played a single minor-league game. A right-handed-hitting infielder who would log more games at shortstop than at second and third combined, he spent parts of seven seasons with Boston, his best coming in 1957 when he batted .270 in 68 games. He later played for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels and Kansas City Athletics, closing a ten-year major-league career in 1962 with a .221 average in 603 games. He cut hair at a downtown Los Angeles hotel and taught sports at Los Angeles Pierce College before boyhood friend Sparky Anderson brought him back in uniform as a Detroit Tigers coach from 1979 through 1992 and again in 1995, a stretch that included the 1984 World Series champions. He died March 27, 2008.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 425 | 2 | 36 | 208 | 108 | 46 | 21 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 25 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 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: #542 Minnesota Twins Team
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- #108 Dan Dobbek
- #123 Billy Gardner
- #153 Don Lee
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #504 card?
It is card #504 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Billy Consolo of the Minnesota Twins.
Why is #504 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.