1961 Topps #153 Don Lee
About Don Lee
The franchise Lee joined as a Washington Senator in 1960 opened 1961 as the Minnesota Twins, and he came along with it. Used mostly out of the pen, he made 37 appearances, started 10 of them, finished 14 others and picked up three saves, going 3-6 with a 3.52 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 115 innings; he went the distance in four of those ten starts. Card #153 belongs to the second series of the 1961 Topps set and lists him with the Twins.
Donald Edward Lee, a 6-foot-4 right-hander born February 26, 1934, in Globe, Arizona, pitched at the University of Arizona before the Detroit Tigers signed him as an amateur free agent in June 1956. He debuted for Detroit in April 1957, went to the Milwaukee Braves in an October 1959 trade, and landed in Washington that November when the Senators took him in the Rule 5 draft. He moved with that franchise to Minnesota, then pitched for the Los Angeles Angels, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, making his last appearance in August 1966. A swingman who shuttled between the rotation and the bullpen, Lee peaked in 1962, when a season divided between the Twins and Angels produced career highs of 11 wins, 102 strikeouts, two shutouts and 205 1/3 innings. Nine seasons left him 40-44 with a 3.61 ERA, 467 strikeouts and 11 saves in 244 games. His father was Thornton Lee, a 22-game winner for the 1941 White Sox, and the two share an oddity: Ted Williams is the only man to homer off both a father and his son, reaching Thornton in September 1939 and Don in September 1960.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 321 | 0 | 10 | 111 | 131 | 48 | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #153 card?
It is card #153 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Don Lee of the Minnesota Twins.
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.