1961 Topps #495 Elston Howard
About Elston Howard
Ralph Houk's first season as manager handed Howard the regular catching job, and he answered with the best year of his career: he raised his average 103 points to .348 and added 21 home runs and 77 RBI in 129 games, finishing tenth in a Most Valuable Player vote that teammate Roger Maris won. He played in both All-Star Games that summer, then caught all five games of the World Series win over Cincinnati, homering in the 2-0 Game 1 shutout. His 1961 Topps card, #495, comes from the sixth series.
Elston Howard was born February 23, 1929, in St. Louis and signed out of Vashon High School with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1948. The New York Yankees bought his contract in July 1950; Army service during the Korean War cost him two seasons, and a Most Valuable Player year at Triple-A Toronto in 1954 finished his apprenticeship. On April 14, 1955, he became the first Black player to appear for the Yankees. Casey Stengel used him as a spare catcher, outfielder and first baseman behind Yogi Berra, but he took over the majority of the catching in 1960 and grew into one of the American League's finest receivers, winning Gold Gloves in 1963 and 1964. The 1963 season brought him the league's Most Valuable Player Award, the first won by a Black player in the American League. He was picked for nine straight All-Star teams from 1957 through 1965, appeared in ten World Series - nine with New York and a last one with Boston - and won four championships as a player. He finished up with the Red Sox in 1968, then came back to coach first base for the Yankees as the American League's first Black coach. He died in 1980 at 51.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 747 | 2 | 31 | 190 | 276 | 125 | 65 | 58 | 0 |
| SGC | 86 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 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: #228 New York Yankees Team
More New York Yankees cards:
- #2 Roger Maris
- #19 Cletis Boyer
- #28 Hector Lopez
- #40 Bob Turley
- #68 Deron Johnson
- #104 John Blanchard
- #116 Joe DeMaestri
- #133 Ralph Houk
- #142 Luis Arroyo
- #160 Whitey Ford
- #180 Bobby Richardson
- #213 Bill Stafford
- #252 Bill Short
- #265 Tony Kubek
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #495 card?
It is card #495 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Elston Howard of the New York Yankees.
Why is #495 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 447-522) - noticeably tougher than the first five, easier than the true highs.
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.