1961 Topps #522 Dick Farrell
About Dick Farrell
Card #522 puts Farrell in the sixth series. The picture already shows Dodger blue: Philadelphia had shipped him and Joe Koppe to Los Angeles on May 4, 1961, for Don Demeter and Charley Smith, after five shaky appearances opened his season at 2-1 with a 6.52 ERA. The numbers on the back still belong to his best Phillies year, 1960 - a career-high 59 games, a 10-6 record, 11 saves and a 2.70 ERA that was the staff's best among pitchers with 100 innings. The Dodgers wanted him to close while Ed Roebuck's shoulder mended.
Richard Joseph "Turk" Farrell was a 6-foot-4 right-hander whose 14 major-league seasons (1956-1969) were all in the National League, with the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston's Colt .45s/Astros. Born in Boston on April 8, 1934, he was stricken with polio before his second birthday, wore a leg brace until he was six and was left with a permanent limp and a left foot an inch and a half shorter than his right. The nickname came from his father Tom, a big man who kept the graves at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline and was known as Big Turk. Signed by the Phillies out of St. Mary's High School in Brookline in 1953, Farrell threw a fastball hitters dreaded, and with Jack Meyer and Jim Owens he formed Philadelphia's hard-living Dalton Gang. He was picked for the National League All-Star squad in 1958, 1962, 1964 and 1965, twice over in 1962, when the majors staged two All-Star Games. He finished 106-111 with a 3.45 ERA, 83 saves and 1,177 strikeouts in 590 games. Farrell was killed in a car accident in Great Yarmouth, England, on June 10, 1977, at 43, while working as a safety supervisor on North Sea oil rigs; in 2020 he was revealed to be the biological father of big-league pitcher Richard Dotson.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 342 | 5 | 36 | 173 | 80 | 30 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 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: #86 Los Angeles Dodgers Team
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #6 Ed Roebuck
- #23 Don Demeter
- #38 Bob Lillis
- #74 Joe Pignatano
- #109 Johnny Podres
- #130 Norm Larker
- #136 Walt Alston
- #147 Ed Rakow
- #168 Tommy Davis
- #190 Stan Williams
- #207 Dodger Southpaws
- #238 Jim Gilliam
- #260 Don Drysdale
- #280 Frank Howard
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #522 card?
It is card #522 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Dick Farrell of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Why is #522 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.