1961 Topps #112 Chico Fernandez
About Chico Fernandez
Detroit won 101 games in 1961, its biggest total since 1934, and chased the Yankees most of the summer before finishing second, eight games back. Fernandez was the shortstop through all of it, playing 133 games, batting .248 with 40 runs batted in and trimming 11 errors off his 1960 total. On July 4 at Yankee Stadium he stole home with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth of a 2-2 tie, Rocky Colavito ducking away from the pitch at the plate; the Tigers won in ten innings. His card here is 1961 Topps #112, a second-series Tiger.
Humberto "Chico" Fernandez was a Cuban-born shortstop who played in the majors from 1956 to 1963 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. Born in Havana on March 2, 1932, he batted and threw right-handed and stood an even 6 feet. Signed by the Dodgers in 1951, he was the International League's All-Star shortstop at Montreal in 1954 and batted a career-best .301 there in 1955, but Pee Wee Reese blocked the road to Brooklyn. In April 1957 the Dodgers sent him to Philadelphia for five players and $75,000, and on Opening Day he became the first player of color to take the field for the Phillies; he held their shortstop job for two seasons. A December 1959 trade brought him to Detroit, where he was the club's first Latin regular position player and its shortstop for three years. He closed out in the majors with the 1963 Mets, a .240 hitter with 666 hits and 40 home runs, then kept playing in Japan, Mexico and the minors. He made his home in Detroit, sold insurance, and died June 11, 2016, in Sunrise, Florida.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 368 | 0 | 14 | 154 | 142 | 38 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 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 #112 card?
It is card #112 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chico Fernandez of the Detroit Tigers.
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.