1961 Topps #85 Jerry Walker
About Jerry Walker
It is a first-series card, number 85. It follows Walker's fourth and last Baltimore season: 29 appearances in 1960, 18 of them starts, five saves, a 3-4 record and a 3.74 ERA, a long way from the 2.92 he had posted the year before as the arm trouble set in. He was handy at the plate that summer too, hitting .368 in 38 at-bats and getting used as a pinch-runner seven times. The Orioles cap did not last the spring: on April 12, 1961, Baltimore sent Walker and outfielder Chuck Essegian to the Kansas City Athletics for pitcher Dick Hall and outfielder Dick Williams.
Jerry Allen Walker was a right-handed pitcher from Ada, Oklahoma, who went 52-1 at Byng High School and signed with the Baltimore Orioles as a bonus baby on June 28, 1957. He was on a big league mound eight days later at age 18, with no minor league stop in between, and became one of the young arms general manager and manager Paul Richards gathered in Baltimore, the group later known as the Kiddie Corps. 1959 was his season. At 20 he started the second All-Star Game of that summer for the American League at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the youngest pitcher ever to start one, working three innings in a 5-3 win; on September 11 he beat the pennant-bound White Sox 1-0 with a 16-inning complete game. A sore arm followed. Dealt to the Kansas City Athletics in April 1961 and to the Cleveland Indians in February 1963, he finished 37-44 with a 4.36 ERA, 326 strikeouts, 16 complete games and 13 saves in eight seasons, and made his last appearance at 25. He stayed in the game for decades as a minor league manager, major league pitching coach, scout, Detroit's general manager in 1993 and a Cardinals and Reds executive, and lived in Ada his whole life.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR Games Project · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 429 | 3 | 66 | 231 | 84 | 28 | 11 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1961 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #159 Baltimore Orioles Team
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #10 Brooks Robinson
- #26 Wes Stock
- #62 Al Pilarcik
- #71 Jerry Adair
- #102 Gene Stephens
- #125 Steve Barber
- #131 Paul Richards
- #140 Gus Triandos
- #182 Dave Nicholson
- #218 Hal Brown
- #240 Ron Hansen
- #256 Billy Hoeft
- #277 Hank Foiles
- #295 Milt Pappas
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #85 card?
It is card #85 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Walker of the Baltimore Orioles.
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.