1961 Topps #533 Jack Curtis
About Jack Curtis
Card #533 is Curtis's rookie card, a series-7 high number and the only card Topps issued of him that year. He had debuted for the Cubs on April 22, 1961, and took a regular turn in the rotation from there: 10-13 with a 4.89 ERA, six complete games and 180.1 innings across 31 appearances for a seventh-place club that lost 90. His 10 wins tied for second on the staff, the National League used the rookie left-hander as a batting practice pitcher at the All-Star Game, and on August 6 he gave up the first home run of Maury Wills's career.
Jack Patrick Curtis, a left-hander born January 11, 1937, in Rhodhiss, North Carolina, signed with the Cubs in 1956 out of Granite Falls High School. He won 20 games for Class B Wenatchee in 1959, then went 19-8 with a league-leading 19 complete games for Double-A San Antonio in 1960 and was named Texas League pitcher of the year. He reached Chicago in 1961 and finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting behind teammate Billy Williams and Joe Torre. That August he took the 2-1 loss when Warren Spahn won his 300th game. Traded to the Milwaukee Braves for Bob Buhl in April 1962 and on to Cleveland that November, he closed a three-year major league career in 1963 at 14-19 with a 4.84 ERA in 69 games. Curtis pitched in the minors through 1967 and won 97 games there, later spending 25 years as a manufacturing production manager and entering the Caldwell County Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. He died May 12, 2025, in Granite Falls.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 410 | 0 | 18 | 160 | 140 | 66 | 19 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 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: #122 Chicago Cubs Team
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #533 card?
It is card #533 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jack Curtis of the Chicago Cubs.
Is 1961 Topps #533 a rookie card?
Yes - #533 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Jack Curtis.
Why is #533 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.