1961 Topps #51 Detroit Tigers Team
Hall of Famers on the 1960 Detroit Tigers roster: Jim Bunning, Joe Gordon and Al Kaline.
About this card
The sixteen team cards pair a club photo with the previous season's record. Neither 1961 expansion club, the Los Angeles Angels or the new Washington Senators, has one.
The story on this card
This team card reports the 1960 Tigers: sixth in the American League at 71-83, 26 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. Detroit remade itself days before the season opened, swapping batting champion Harvey Kuenn to Cleveland even-up for home run champ Rocky Colavito and landing first baseman Norm Cash from the Indians. August brought the only manager-for-manager trade in big league history: Jimmy Dykes to Cleveland for Joe Gordon, a Hall of Fame second baseman who finished the year as skipper. Hall of Famers Jim Bunning, the AL strikeout leader, and Al Kaline (.278, 15 homers) manned the staff and center field at Briggs Stadium, which owner John Fetzer renamed Tiger Stadium for 1961. Number 51 is a first-series team card.
Sources: Wikipedia (1960 Detroit Tigers season) · Wikipedia (Billy Hitchcock) · Wikipedia (Joe Gordon) · Wikipedia (Jim Bunning) · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 485 | 1 | 41 | 220 | 115 | 53 | 31 | 22 | 2 |
| SGC | 39 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 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 #51 card?
It is card #51 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing the Detroit Tigers. The sixteen team cards pair a club photo with the previous season's record. Neither 1961 expansion club, the Los Angeles Angels or the new Washington Senators, has one.
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.