1961 Topps #239 Dave Sisler
About Dave Sisler
1961 Topps #239 shows Sisler with the expansion Washington Senators, who took him fourth overall in the December 1960 draft after Detroit left him unprotected. New manager Mickey Vernon named him the club's top relief pitcher before the season, and Sisler delivered early, carrying a 0.74 ERA with seven saves as late as June 5. The summer went the other way: Roger Maris tagged him for home run number 28 on July 1, and his work shrank to a handful of outings a month. He still finished sixth in the American League with a career-high 11 saves, going 2-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 45 games. The card comes from the third series.
Dave Sisler (1931-2011) was a right-handed pitcher who spent seven seasons in the major leagues from 1956 to 1962, appearing with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, and Cincinnati Reds. Born in St. Louis, he was the son of Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler and the brother of major leaguer Dick Sisler. He starred in baseball and basketball at Princeton, signed with Boston in October 1952, and graduated magna cum laude in 1953. He pitched that summer for Albany of the Class A Eastern League, then spent 1954 and 1955 in the U.S. Army before reaching Boston in 1956, a season that ended with Boston writers voting him the club's top rookie. Sisler worked mostly as a starter in his early Red Sox years, winning 24 games from 1956 through 1958, then shifted to relief after a May 1959 trade to Detroit. The expansion Washington Senators drafted him in December 1960, and he saved a career-high 11 games in 1961 before finishing his major league run with the Reds in 1962. Overall he went 38-44 with a 4.33 ERA and 29 saves in 247 games. He later spent more than 30 years with the investment firm A.G. Edwards, rising to vice-chairman.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 325 | 1 | 48 | 172 | 71 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 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
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- #129 Ed Hobaugh
- #134 Mickey Vernon
- #146 Marty Keough
- #158 Pete Daley
- #174 Ray Semproch
- #187 Billy Klaus
- #206 Gene Green
- #229 Rudy Hernandez
- #259 John Schaive
- #275 Gene Woodling
- #293 Tom Sturdivant
- #318 Danny O'Connell
- #332 Dutch Dotterer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #239 card?
It is card #239 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dave Sisler of the Washington Senators.
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.