1961 Topps #226 Harry Lavagetto
About this card
Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
About Harry Lavagetto
Card #226 catches Lavagetto at a new address. The Washington Senators moved to Minnesota for 1961 and he went with them as the relocated franchise's first manager, not an expansion club but the original Senators under a new name. It is a manager card from the set's third series, a mid-run number; his playing days had ended back in 1947. His Minnesota Twins card rides on a 1960 Washington season that finally broke the pattern, a fifth-place finish after three straight years in the cellar, built around young Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat and Earl Battey. The Minnesota job lasted only 59 games before owner Calvin Griffith replaced him with coach Sam Mele in June.
Harry Arthur Lavagetto, born December 1, 1912, in Oakland, California, took the nickname Cookie from Oakland Oaks owner Cookie DeVincenzi, who signed him to his first professional contract. He broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934 as a second baseman, playing all 87 of his rookie-year games there, then went to the Brooklyn Dodgers in a December 1936 trade and settled in at third base. He made four straight National League All-Star teams from 1938 through 1941, hit a career-best .300 with 87 RBIs in 1939, and helped Brooklyn to the 1941 pennant. Four seasons in the Navy during World War II then cost him his prime. Back with the Dodgers as a part-time player in 1946 and 1947, he delivered the moment that defined him in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series: pinch-hitting with two out in the ninth, he doubled off the right-field wall to break up Bill Bevens's no-hitter, scoring both runners to win the game 3-2 and even the Series. It was his last big-league hit. He finished playing with the Oaks, coached under Chuck Dressen in Brooklyn and Washington, and succeeded Dressen as Senators manager in May 1957.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 324 | 1 | 19 | 181 | 72 | 24 | 15 | 8 | 4 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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: #542 Minnesota Twins Team
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #4 Lenny Green
- #21 Zorro Versalles
- #36 Jack Kralick
- #63 Jim Kaat
- #80 Harmon Killebrew
- #92 Hal Naragon
- #108 Dan Dobbek
- #123 Billy Gardner
- #153 Don Lee
- #186 Elmer Valo
- #201 Pete Whisenant
- #235 Camilo Pascual
- #254 Ted Sadowski
- #289 Ray Moore
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #226 card?
It is card #226 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Harry Lavagetto of the Minnesota Twins. Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
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.