1961 Topps #358 Earl Averill
The catcher on this card is Earl Averill Jr., the Angels' regular behind the plate in 1961, not his Hall of Fame father of the same name.
About Earl Averill
Los Angeles took Averill from the White Sox in the December 1960 expansion draft, and he answered with the best season of his career. He started 78 of his 115 games behind the plate for the first-year Angels, batted .266 with 21 home runs and 59 RBIs, and on May 3 hit the first walk-off home run in franchise history. Five Angels reached 20 homers that summer, with Leon Wagner leading the club at 28. Topps placed Averill at #358 in the fourth print series, an Angels card. The catcher pictured is the son, not his Hall of Fame father.
Earl Douglas Averill was a catcher and outfielder who played seven major league seasons, 1956 and 1958 through 1963, for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies. Commonly called Earl Averill Jr., he was not literally a junior: his father was Howard Earl Averill, the Hall of Fame outfielder nicknamed the Earl of Snohomish. Born in Cleveland on September 9, 1931, while his father starred for the Indians, he was raised in Snohomish, Washington, became the University of Oregon's first baseball All-American and hit .439 as a sophomore. Cleveland signed him in December 1952, he debuted on April 19, 1956, and he later tore up the Pacific Coast League with San Diego, taking the 1958 PCL Most Valuable Player award behind a .347 average with 24 home runs. A versatile journeyman, he caught, played the outfield and filled in around the infield for five big league clubs, batting .242 in 449 games with 44 home runs and 159 RBIs. A charter inductee of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, he died on May 13, 2015.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 268 | 0 | 17 | 129 | 70 | 28 | 12 | 11 | 1 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 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 #358 card?
It is card #358 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Earl Averill of the Los Angeles Angels.
Is this the Hall of Fame Earl Averill?
No. The Earl Averill on #358 is Earl Averill Jr. of the Los Angeles Angels; his father, Hall of Famer Earl Averill, last played in 1941 and has no card in this set.
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.