1961 Topps #99 Don Buddin
About Don Buddin
Card 99 sits in series 1 of the 1961 Topps set and shows Buddin with the Red Sox, the club he had manned at shortstop since 1956 apart from his Army year. It caps a 1960 season of treading water -- .245 in 124 games -- that a Jim Bunning pitch interrupted on August 30, fracturing his skull and costing him 17 games. In the season the card rode out, Buddin lost the Opening Day start to Pumpsie Green, reclaimed the job when Green needed an appendectomy in May, and hit a personal-best .263 in what became his last Boston summer.
Donald Thomas Buddin was a shortstop from Turbeville, South Carolina, who signed with the Boston Red Sox out of Olanta High School for a reported fifty thousand dollar bonus after scout Mace Brown persuaded him and his father to pick Boston. He held the Red Sox starting shortstop job from 1956 through 1961, missing 1957 for Army service at Fort Jackson and Fort McPherson. A right-handed hitter who finished with slightly more career walks than strikeouts, 410 to 404, Buddin led American League shortstops in on-base plus slugging in 1958 and ranked second only to Woodie Held in 1959 -- but his league-leading error totals in those same two seasons earned him the nickname Bootin' Buddin from unforgiving Fenway Park crowds, and prompted one Boston writer to suggest his car carry an E-6 license plate. His signature moment came on July 11, 1959, when he hit a walk-off grand slam against the Yankees in the bottom of the tenth. He closed out a six-year major league career in 1962 with Houston and the Detroit Tigers, a .241 lifetime hitter with 41 home runs.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 331 | 1 | 36 | 171 | 84 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #99 card?
It is card #99 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Buddin of the Boston Red Sox.
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.