1961 Topps #172 Don Dillard
About Don Dillard
Card #172 is a second-series number in the 1961 set. It arrived in the year that turned out to be the best of his career: 74 games for Cleveland, with career bests of .272, seven home runs and 17 RBI in 147 at-bats, nearly all of it spelling the regular outfield of Tito Francona, Jimmy Piersall and Willie Kirkland. Off the bench he was lethal, 15 for 35 as a pinch hitter, a .429 mark that remains the highest single-season pinch-hitting average in Indians history at a 25 at-bat minimum. His first career homer, on May 2, tied a game in the ninth against Early Wynn, and late in the year his pinch single leading off the ninth broke up Al Schroll's no-hit bid.
David Donald Dillard was a left-handed hitting outfielder from Greenville, South Carolina, born January 8, 1937. He graduated from Taylors High School in 1955 and signed with Cleveland for a $4,000 bonus after a bidding war among several clubs. His bat moved fast in the low minors, headlined by a 1956 season at Daytona Beach of the Florida State League in which he hit .375 with 17 triples and 127 RBI. Over parts of six major league seasons with Cleveland (1959-62) and the Milwaukee Braves (1963, 1965) he worked as a fourth outfielder and pinch hitter, spelling established starters rather than replacing them. His best year came in 1961, when he set career highs in batting average, home runs and RBI. He was at his most dangerous off the bench, including a walk-off grand slam for Cleveland on July 4, 1962. He finished at .244 with 14 home runs and 47 RBI in 272 games, played on at the Triple-A level through 1967, and later ran Dillard's Lake Resort in Greenwood, South Carolina, for years. In 1997 he was inducted into the Greenwood Athletics Club Hall of Fame in his home state. He died on his 85th birthday in 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 359 | 0 | 22 | 179 | 110 | 35 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 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: #467 Cleveland Indians Team
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #5 Johnny Romano
- #15 Willie Kirkland
- #18 Jim Grant
- #34 Wynn Hawkins
- #60 Woodie Held
- #77 Dick Stigman
- #101 Bubba Phillips
- #115 Johnny Antonelli
- #155 Johnny Temple
- #191 Mike de la Hoz
- #222 Jimmie Dykes
- #255 Vic Power
- #274 Gary Bell
- #319 Valmy Thomas
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #172 card?
It is card #172 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Dillard of the Cleveland Indians.
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.