1961 Topps #399 Cliff Cook
About Cliff Cook
Cook spent nearly all of 1961 at Triple-A Indianapolis, and it became his finest professional season: .311 with 32 home runs and 119 RBI, and Most Valuable Player of the American Association. A September recall to the pennant-winning Reds gave him four games and no hits in five at-bats, and Cincinnati went on to lose the World Series to the Yankees in five games. Number 399 is a standard card from the fifth series, and it is Cook's rookie card - out the same summer he was tearing up the American Association.
Raymond Clifford Cook, a right-handed hitting third baseman who also saw time in the outfield and at first base, was born August 20, 1936, in Dallas, Texas, and attended Sunset High School there. He signed with Cincinnati as an amateur free agent in 1955 and built a reputation in the minor leagues as a genuine power hitter, clearing 30 home runs with 100 RBI in a season three separate times on the way to 195 minor league homers. His major league debut came September 9, 1959, with the Reds, and the next day he went 6-for-9 with a double, a triple and four RBI in a doubleheader against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, part of a .381 nine-game trial. He could never sustain that success in the big leagues, hitting .208 in 1960 and spending most of 1961 in Triple-A, where he was voted Most Valuable Player of the American Association. Traded to the expansion New York Mets in May 1962, he closed out a five-season, 163-game career in 1963 with a .201 average, seven home runs and 35 RBI, hampered by chronic back trouble. He played a final minor league season in 1964 and later ran a sporting goods shop in Fort Worth, Texas.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 342 | 2 | 37 | 197 | 71 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #399 card?
It is card #399 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Cliff Cook of the Cincinnati Reds.
Is 1961 Topps #399 a rookie card?
Yes - #399 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Cliff Cook.
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.