1961 Topps #487 Gene Oliver
About Gene Oliver
Oliver reported to camp 17 pounds overweight and manager Solly Hemus used him sparingly over the Cardinals' first 24 games before shipping him out on May 16. At Portland of the Pacific Coast League he led the circuit with 36 home runs while St. Louis moved him back behind the plate under former catcher Hal Smith. A late recall left him at .269 with four homers in 22 big-league games. Card 487 sits in the sixth series, with his debut already two years behind him.
Eugene George Oliver (1935-2007) was born in Moline, Illinois, the fourth of five children of a Belgian father and a Polish mother. A three-sport star at Alleman Catholic High in Rock Island, he turned down a $60,000 bonus from the Detroit Tigers to take a football scholarship to Northwestern, then lost both when a shoulder separation ended his football career. He rehabilitated the arm, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in January 1956, and hit .333 with 39 home runs in Class D that first summer. Oliver debuted in St. Louis on June 6, 1959, led the Pacific Coast League with 36 homers for Portland in 1961, and became the Cardinals' regular catcher in 1962 before a June 1963 trade sent him to the Milwaukee Braves. His best year came in 1965: .270 with 21 home runs. Stints with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs closed out a ten-year career that finished at .246 with 93 home runs and 320 RBIs in 786 games. A strong-armed catcher, first baseman and left fielder known for his wit, he instructed in the minors into the 1980s, was inducted into the Quad Cities Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and died in Rock Island in 2007.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 381 | 2 | 33 | 183 | 109 | 32 | 17 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #347 St. Louis Cardinals Team
More St. Louis Cardinals cards:
- #11 Curt Simmons
- #32 Ray Sadecki
- #52 George Crowe
- #64 Alex Grammas
- #75 Lindy Shows Larry
- #91 Walt Moryn
- #118 Chris Cannizzaro
- #127 Ron Kline
- #139 Solly Hemus
- #148 Julian Javier
- #178 Bob Nieman
- #198 Carl Sawatski
- #211 Bob Gibson
- #232 Bill White
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #487 card?
It is card #487 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Gene Oliver of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Why is #487 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.