1961 Topps #299 Clay Dalrymple
About Clay Dalrymple
Dalrymple's 1961 Topps card, #299 in the fourth series, follows his first big-league season: .272 with 4 home runs and 21 runs batted in across 82 games. Jim Coker caught every inning of Philadelphia's first ten games in 1960 before Dalrymple debuted on April 24, and the youngster was handed to veteran Cal Neeman to sharpen his defense. By August he was the regular, after ace Robin Roberts went to manager Gene Mauch and asked that the kid call his games. On July 19 he came off the bench and singled with two outs in the eighth, the only hit Juan Marichal allowed in his major-league debut.
Clayton Errol Dalrymple was a left-handed hitting catcher who spent nine seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and three with the Baltimore Orioles. Philadelphia took him out of the Milwaukee Braves organization in the Rule 5 draft of November 30, 1959, and he reached the majors on April 24, 1960. Valued for his arm and his pitch-calling more than his bat, he twice broke up a no-hit bid in the eighth inning: Juan Marichal's major-league debut in July 1960 and Gaylord Perry's in July 1966. He caught Philadelphia through the 1964 pennant race and its September collapse, and ran off a since-broken league record of 99 consecutive errorless games over 1966 and 1967. He threw out 48.8 percent of the runners who tried to steal on him, 30th on the all-time list. Traded to Baltimore for outfielder Ron Stone on January 20, 1969, he spent three years as a third catcher behind Elrod Hendricks and Andy Etchebarren while the Orioles won three straight American League pennants. He retired after the 1971 season with 710 hits, 55 home runs, 327 runs batted in and a .233 average in 1,079 games, and in 2005 he entered the inaugural class of the Chico Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in his California hometown.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 292 | 0 | 12 | 133 | 99 | 31 | 13 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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: #491 Philadelphia Phillies Team
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #3 John Buzhardt
- #20 Robin Roberts
- #59 Jim Woods
- #78 Lee Walls
- #93 Tony Gonzalez
- #103 Ruben Amaro
- #111 Jack Meyer
- #144 Jim Coker
- #154 Bobby Del Greco
- #179 Joe Koppe
- #202 Al Neiger
- #219 Gene Mauch
- #234 Ted Lepcio
- #262 Tony Curry
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #299 card?
It is card #299 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Clay Dalrymple of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.