1961 Topps #499 Chuck Schilling
About Chuck Schilling
Card #499 sits in the sixth print series of the 1961 set, and it is Schilling's recognized rookie card, showing him with the Red Sox. The season behind it was the best he ever had. He debuted on April 11, 1961, played 158 games, batted .259 with 167 hits, 87 runs and 62 runs batted in, and set a Boston rookie record with 737 plate appearances. He made only eight errors in 846 chances for a .991 fielding percentage, best among American League second basemen, and the Boston baseball writers voted him the club's Most Valuable Player.
Charles Thomas Schilling (born October 25, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York) was a right-handed second baseman who spent all five of his major-league seasons with the Boston Red Sox, 1961 through 1965. Raised on Long Island, he graduated from St. Mary's High School in Manhasset in 1955 and signed with Boston while at Manhattan College, where he studied mechanical engineering. After a full 1960 season at Triple-A Minneapolis he reached the majors in 1961 with his friend and fellow Long Islander Carl Yastrzemski, and his glove was good enough that the Red Sox moved incumbent American League batting champion Pete Runnels off second base to make room. Prized for slick, dependable fielding rather than power, Schilling saw his bat undercut by a pitch that broke his left hand in his second season, and he closed his career with a .239 average, 470 hits, 23 home runs and 146 runs batted in over 541 games. He later taught secondary-school mathematics on Long Island for 24 years and died on March 30, 2021.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 465 | 1 | 59 | 221 | 107 | 37 | 29 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 32 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 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: #373 Boston Red Sox Team
More Boston Red Sox cards:
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- #53 Russ Nixon
- #69 Earl Wilson
- #81 Tracy Stallard
- #99 Don Buddin
- #113 Mike Fornieles
- #128 Rip Repulski
- #173 Beantown Bombers
- #193 Gene Conley
- #210 Pete Runnels
- #221 Mike Higgins
- #236 Don Gile
- #257 Carroll Hardy
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #499 card?
It is card #499 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Chuck Schilling of the Boston Red Sox.
Is 1961 Topps #499 a rookie card?
Yes - #499 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Chuck Schilling.
Why is #499 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.