1961 Topps #175 Gene Freese
About Gene Freese
Topps' 1961 set, series 2, card #175 shows Freese with the Cincinnati Reds, where the White Sox had shipped him in December 1960 for pitchers Juan Pizarro and Cal McLish. The card rides along with the best year he ever had: career highs in batting average (.277), hits (159), home runs (26), RBIs (87) and games played (152), while Cincinnati took its first pennant since 1940. He handled third base in 151 of those 152 games, then went 1-for-16 against the Yankees in a World Series the Reds lost in five.
Eugene Lewis Freese, a right-handed third baseman born in Wheeling, West Virginia, played twelve major league seasons between 1955 and 1966 for the Pirates, Cardinals, Phillies, White Sox, Reds and Astros, traded or sold seven times along the way. A three-sport athlete at West Liberty State College, he signed with Pittsburgh as an amateur free agent in March 1953 and reached the majors in 1955 alongside his older brother George, taking the Pirates' rookie-of-the-year award from the Pittsburgh baseball writers over Roberto Clemente. His best work came from 1959 through 1961, culminating in career highs across the board for the pennant-winning 1961 Reds. A spring-training ankle fracture in 1962 cost him that form for good; he never again played 100 games in a season, and he retired after the 1968 minor league campaign. He finished at .254 with 877 hits, 115 home runs and 432 RBIs in 1,115 games, then made New Orleans home, running the Basin Lounge and entering the New Orleans Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 277 | 0 | 13 | 113 | 109 | 26 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 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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Team card: #249 Cincinnati Reds Team
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- #162 Jay Hook
- #166 Danny Kravitz
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- #215 Gus Bell
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #175 card?
It is card #175 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gene Freese of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.