1961 Topps #105 Carl Willey
About Carl Willey
Behind this card sits a 1960 season in which Milwaukee used Willey both ways: 28 games, 21 starts, 144.2 innings, a 6-7 record and a 4.35 ERA, with 109 strikeouts, the most he ever recorded in a season, against 65 walks. He got hold of one at the plate that summer too, hitting the first of his two big-league home runs. Card #105 places him with the Braves in the 1961 Topps first series.
Carlton Francis Willey was a right-handed pitcher from Cherryfield, Maine, who reached the majors with the Milwaukee Braves in 1958 after an earned-run title in the Provincial League, two Army years in Germany, and a Most Valuable Player season with Wichita of the American Association. An even six feet tall, with a fastball once clocked at 93 mph, he broke in at 26 and went 9-7 with a 2.70 ERA, led the National League with four shutouts and was named the league's rookie pitcher of the year by The Sporting News. That October he retired all three men he faced in the eighth inning of Game Five, striking out two, in a 7-0 loss at Yankee Stadium; the Braves lost the Series to New York in seven games. A staff fronted by Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl then squeezed him out, and after 1962 he asked to be traded. The Mets bought him, and he spent his last three seasons there. Eight big-league years left him 38-58 with a 3.76 ERA, 28 complete games, 11 shutouts and 493 strikeouts. He later scouted for the Philadelphia Phillies and is a member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Stats Crew · Maine Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 435 | 0 | 45 | 234 | 106 | 31 | 15 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #463b Milwaukee Braves Team
More Milwaukee Braves cards:
- #29 Don Nottebart
- #61 Ron Piche
- #73 Al Spangler
- #84 Lee Maye
- #89 Billy Martin
- #120 Ed Mathews
- #137 Chuck Dressen
- #145 Bob Buhl
- #164 Felix Mantilla
- #183 Andre Rodgers
- #200 Warren Spahn
- #217 Mel Roach
- #245 Joe Adcock
- #261 Charlie Lau
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #105 card?
It is card #105 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Carl Willey of the Milwaukee Braves.
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.