1961 Topps #63 Jim Kaat
About Jim Kaat
Card #63, a first-series issue, shows Kaat in the year the Washington franchise became the Minnesota Twins. The season it reports belongs to a 21-year-old still learning the trade in Washington: 1-5 with a 5.58 ERA over 50 innings, nine starts and four relief outings, and 31 walks he could not afford. It is his first as a Minnesota Twin, and 1961 was the year he stuck for good - 36 games, 29 starts and 200 2/3 innings as the club's youngest starting pitcher, with no more trips to the minor leagues ahead of him.
Jim Kaat pitched 25 seasons in the major leagues, 1959 through 1983, the longest career any pitcher had put together to that point, and spent the heart of it as the left-handed anchor of the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins staff before finishing with the White Sox, Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. A 6-foot-4 southpaw nicknamed Kitty, he worked so fast between pitches that he confounded umpires and annoyed the hitters standing in against him. He won 283 games, 190 of them for the Senators and Twins, more than anyone in the Minnesota era of the franchise, and put together three 20-win seasons, with a record eight-year gap between the first two. He was a three-time All-Star and the most decorated fielding pitcher of his era, taking 16 straight Gold Gloves, still the longest run at the position, though Greg Maddux later won more in total. He waited until he was 43 to get a World Series ring, working out of the bullpen for the 1982 Cardinals. He finished with a 3.45 ERA, 2,461 strikeouts, 180 complete games and 898 appearances, then spent more than two decades as an Emmy-winning broadcaster. The writers never came close to electing him; the Golden Days Era Committee did, for the Hall of Fame class of 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 637 | 0 | 35 | 224 | 153 | 114 | 59 | 52 | 0 |
| SGC | 120 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 25 | 1 |
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: #542 Minnesota Twins Team
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- #36 Jack Kralick
- #80 Harmon Killebrew
- #92 Hal Naragon
- #108 Dan Dobbek
- #123 Billy Gardner
- #153 Don Lee
- #186 Elmer Valo
- #201 Pete Whisenant
- #226 Harry Lavagetto
- #235 Camilo Pascual
- #254 Ted Sadowski
- #289 Ray Moore
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #63 card?
It is card #63 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Kaat of the Minnesota Twins.
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.