1961 Topps #534 Eddie Kasko
About Eddie Kasko
Kasko's 1961 Topps card, number 534, sits in the seventh print series, among the high numbers that make the run hard to finish. The Reds portrait follows his 1960 season, the best batting year of his career: he hit .292 over 126 games with 140 hits, 21 doubles and 56 runs, worked mainly at third base with time at shortstop, and led National League third basemen in fielding percentage. Cincinnati sportswriters voted him the team's most valuable player for that season, one year before the Reds took the pennant.
Eddie Kasko was a right-handed-hitting shortstop and third baseman who played ten major league seasons, from 1957 through 1966, with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt .45s and Astros, and Boston Red Sox. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and raised in Linden, he debuted with the Cardinals on April 18, 1957, becoming the first Linden High School graduate to reach the majors. A six-player trade sent him to Cincinnati after the 1958 season, and across five years there he moved between third base and shortstop, leading National League third basemen in fielding percentage in 1960 and NL shortstops in that category in 1964 after a trade to Houston. He made the 1961 National League All-Star team and started all five games at shortstop in that year's World Series against the New York Yankees, batting .318. Over 1,077 games he hit .264 with 935 hits, 146 doubles, 22 home runs and 261 RBI. He retired after the 1966 season, managed the Red Sox from 1970 through 1973, and stayed with the club two more decades as a scout, scouting director and front-office executive. Boston elected him to the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2010; he died in 2020 at 88.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 352 | 0 | 23 | 125 | 114 | 53 | 22 | 15 | 0 |
| SGC | 24 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 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 #534 card?
It is card #534 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Eddie Kasko of the Cincinnati Reds.
Why is #534 harder to find?
It is a high number card (cards 523-589) from the seventh and last print series - the scarce end of the set, including the 22 Sporting News All-Stars.
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.