1961 Topps #551 George Altman
About George Altman
Card 551 in the 1961 Topps set, a seventh-series high number that reached collectors late in the season. The timing caught Altman at his peak: he took over right field for the Cubs and hit .303 with 27 home runs and 96 runs batted in, leading the National League with 12 triples and posting a .560 slugging mark. He homered twice off Sandy Koufax in one game that August, and pinch-hit a home run off Mike Fornieles in the first of the two All-Star Games played that year, the only All-Star hit he ever got.
George Lee Altman was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March 20, 1933, and worked tobacco fields as a youth before basketball carried him to Tennessee A&I State University in Nashville, a school that had no baseball team until his junior year. He turned pro with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1955 and signed with the Chicago Cubs that August on Buck O'Neil's recommendation. A 6-foot-4 left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, Altman reached the majors in 1959 after two minor league seasons split around Army service. Over nine big league years with the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets he batted .269 with 101 home runs and 403 runs batted in over 991 games, played all three outfield spots and first base, and was a National League All-Star in both 1961 and 1962. Nagging injuries cut the peak short. At 35 he went to Japan, where he spent eight seasons with the Tokyo/Lotte Orions and the Hanshin Tigers, hit 205 home runs and batted .309 before finishing at 42. He later traded commodities at the Chicago Board of Trade and settled in O'Fallon, Missouri, where he died on November 24, 2025, at 92.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 503 | 1 | 25 | 213 | 158 | 62 | 28 | 16 | 0 |
| SGC | 35 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #551 card?
It is card #551 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing George Altman of the Chicago Cubs.
Why is #551 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.