1961 Topps #354 Billy Harrell
About Billy Harrell
Boston plucked Harrell out of the Phillies organization in the November 1960 Rule 5 draft, general manager Dick O'Connell calling the pick infield insurance. That is about what it amounted to: 37 games, only seven of them starts, a .162 average and one RBI, with his last big league appearance on September 20, 1961. The card is number 354, part of the set's fourth series, and shows him with the Red Sox. By then, Harrell had been turning up in Cleveland box scores since September 1955. It is also his only card in the 1961-69 Topps run; he spent 1962 through 1966 in the minors before retiring.
Billy Harrell was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on July 18, 1928, and raised in Troy, New York, where his family settled before he turned two. A two-sport star at Siena College, he left as the school's all-time leading scorer in basketball, then turned down the Harlem Globetrotters and the NBA's Indianapolis Olympians to sign with the Cleveland Indians on June 14, 1952, beginning a fifteen-year run in professional ball. He had already played shortstop for the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons in the summer of 1951. The right-handed infielder was named Eastern League Most Valuable Player at Reading in 1953, but the big league work came in pieces: 173 games across 1955, 1957, 1958 and 1961, a .231 average with 8 home runs and 26 RBI for Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox. Manager Kirby Farrell said Harrell had such tremendous hands he could play the infield without a glove, and he handled shortstop, third, second and first. In the minors he hit .284 with 114 home runs. He retired in 1966, scouted briefly for Boston, then worked as a probation officer with juveniles in Albany. Siena retired his number 10 in 2006; he is in the Reading Baseball and Albany Sports halls of fame. He died May 6, 2014.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 271 | 0 | 19 | 136 | 85 | 19 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 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 #354 card?
It is card #354 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Billy Harrell of the Boston Red 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.