1961 Topps #353 Howie Bedell
About Howie Bedell
1961 Topps #353, a fourth-series card, is Bedell's recognized rookie card, printed while he was still a Milwaukee farmhand a full year ahead of his major league debut. Bedell spent all of 1961 with the Braves' Class AAA Louisville Colonels and hit .327 over 134 games with 194 hits, 31 doubles and 15 triples, the best average among the club's regulars, and it was during that season that the 43-game hitting streak ran its course. Louisville finished second at 80-70 under Ben Geraghty and then won the American Association playoffs; Joe Torre and Bob Uecker were teammates.
Howard William Bedell was a left-handed hitting outfielder born September 29, 1935, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. A Pottstown Senior High School graduate who went on to West Chester, he stood 6-foot-1, weighed 185 pounds and threw right-handed. His playing career stretched 13 seasons, 1957 through 1969, and took in nearly 1,400 minor league games; in 1961 he ran off a 43-game hitting streak in the American Association that was still tied for the league record when the league folded in 1997. The major league portion was brief: the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968, 67 games in all, 28 hits, three runs batted in, no home runs, a .193 average. His most remembered moment was a pinch-hit sacrifice fly at Dodger Stadium on June 8, 1968 that scored Tony Taylor and ended Don Drysdale's record run of 58 2/3 scoreless innings. Bedell stayed in the game long after that, managing in the minors, coaching for the Kansas City Royals in 1984 and the Seattle Mariners in 1988, and running farm systems for the Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Stats Crew (1) · Stats Crew (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 340 | 0 | 26 | 169 | 100 | 26 | 14 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #463b Milwaukee Braves Team
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #353 card?
It is card #353 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Howie Bedell of the Milwaukee Braves.
Is 1961 Topps #353 a rookie card?
Yes - #353 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Howie Bedell.
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.