1961 Topps #40 Bob Turley
About Bob Turley
Card #40 lands in the first series of 1961 Topps, a plain low number. The back sums up 1960, when Turley worked 173 innings over 34 games for Casey Stengel and went 9-3 with a 3.27 ERA, seventh best in the American League. In October he beat Pittsburgh 16-3 in Game Two of the World Series, then drew the start in the deciding Game Seven at Forbes Field. That one got away early: three runs, one inning, gone to the bullpen before the second inning was out. Ralph Terry, not Turley, wore the loss when Bill Mazeroski ended it.
Bob Turley threw as hard as anyone in the 1950s and walked more men than almost anyone. The St. Louis Browns signed him out of East St. Louis Senior High School in June 1948; after an Army hitch that cost him 1952 and most of 1953, he moved with the franchise to Baltimore, pitched the first Orioles game at Memorial Stadium, and led the American League with 185 strikeouts - and 181 walks - in 1954. That November he was the centerpiece of a 17-player swap with the New York Yankees, still the largest trade in major league history. A no-windup delivery sharpened his control, and 1958 was the season of his life: 21-7, the league lead in wins, two World Series wins over Milwaukee and the Series MVP award, the Cy Young Award and the Hickok Belt. Elbow trouble and bone chips followed. A three-time All-Star, he finished 101-85 in 1963 with the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox, then went into insurance and financial planning, co-founding the firm that became Primerica.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 479 | 4 | 36 | 193 | 131 | 59 | 27 | 29 | 0 |
| SGC | 43 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 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 #40 card?
It is card #40 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bob Turley 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.