1961 Topps #298 Jim Golden
About Jim Golden
1961 Topps #298, series 4, Los Angeles Dodgers, is a recognised rookie card and a plain fourth-series number. The Dodgers went into 1961 carrying a nine-man pitching staff and told Golden he would be the long man; he was on cloud nine simply to have made the club. He got into 28 games, all in relief, and finished 1-1 with no saves and a 5.79 ERA. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum did him no favors, its left-field screen standing just 251 feet from the plate - a park he likened to a softball field. Later that season he asked Walter Alston to option him out for innings, and Alston said no.
James Edward Golden, born March 20, 1936, in Eldon, Missouri, and raised from the early 1940s in Valencia, Kansas, was a right-handed pitcher who batted left-handed. He won 11 varsity letters in baseball, football and basketball at Silver Lake High School, helped the baseball team to Kansas state titles in 1953 and 1954, and struck out a state-record 185 batters in that second season. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1954 for a $7,000 bonus and spent five seasons in their farm system without reaching the majors. In December 1958 the Phillies packaged him with two other players to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Sparky Anderson, then a second-base prospect and later a Hall of Fame manager. At Triple-A St. Paul in 1960 he won 20 games and led the American Association in both wins and earned run average at 2.32, earning a September 30 debut that he won. He relieved for the 1961 Dodgers, was taken by the expansion Houston Colt .45s, and was finished in the majors by a right shoulder injury in 1963, going 9-13 with a 4.54 ERA over 69 games. The Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas inducted him in 2014.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 327 | 3 | 29 | 160 | 89 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #298 card?
It is card #298 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Golden of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Is 1961 Topps #298 a rookie card?
Yes - #298 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Jim Golden.
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.