1961 Topps #97 Jerry Lynch
About Jerry Lynch
This 1961 Topps card, #97 in the set's opening series, catches Lynch with Cincinnati during the best season he ever had. In only 181 at-bats he hit .315 with a .407 on-base mark and a .624 slugging percentage, all career highs, driving in 50 runs with 13 home runs and finishing 22nd in the National League Most Valuable Player vote. Off the bench he went 19-for-47, a .404 clip, with five home runs and 25 RBI, a single-season pinch-hit RBI record he still shares. On September 26 in Chicago he broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run homer off the Cubs' Bob Anderson in the eighth inning, a win that locked up at least a tie for the pennant.
Gerald Thomas Lynch was born July 17, 1929, in Bay City, Michigan, though his baseball cards and the encyclopedias of the day printed 1930. He played 13 major league seasons from 1954 to 1966, opening with the Pittsburgh Pirates after a Rule 5 draft pick out of the Yankees farm system, moving to Cincinnati the same way in December 1956, and returning to Pittsburgh in a May 1963 trade that sent outfielder Bob Skinner to the Reds. A left-handed hitter with limited range in the outfield, he turned a crowded depth chart into a specialty and became one of the most feared pinch hitters of his era. His 18 pinch-hit home runs were a major league record when he retired, stood until 1984, and remain the National League mark. Over 1,184 games he batted .277 with 798 hits, 115 home runs and 470 RBI. His best year was 1961, when he hit .315, slugged .624, and helped the Reds take their first National League pennant in 21 years. Pirates broadcaster Jim Woods called him the Allison Park Sweeper for his suburban Pittsburgh address and his machine-like work at the plate. He was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, the club's team honor, in 1988, and died March 31, 2012, in Austell, Georgia.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 530 | 6 | 80 | 310 | 101 | 14 | 14 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 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: #249 Cincinnati Reds Team
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #9 Bob Purkey
- #25 Reds' Heavy Artillery
- #66 Bill Henry
- #76 Harry Anderson
- #110 Vada Pinson
- #135 Fred Hutchinson
- #162 Jay Hook
- #166 Danny Kravitz
- #175 Gene Freese
- #194 Gordy Coleman
- #215 Gus Bell
- #233 Joe Jay
- #244 Chico Cardenas
- #276 Ray Rippelmeyer
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #97 card?
It is card #97 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Lynch of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.