1961 Topps #351 Jim King
About Jim King
Card #351 lands in the fourth series and is King's first Topps card as a Washington Senator. He had spent 1959 and 1960 out of the majors with Toronto of the International League, where 24 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .384 on-base percentage - built despite two weeks lost to the mumps - made him the league's Most Valuable Player. Cleveland bought him and then left him unprotected, and Washington took him with the 50th pick of the December 1960 expansion draft. He was playing winter ball in Venezuela when the word reached him, and at 28 he stepped straight into the outfield of a brand-new ballclub.
James Hubert King, a left-handed hitter born August 27, 1932 in Elkins, Arkansas, broke in with the Chicago Cubs in 1955 and later played for the Cardinals and the Giants, starting in left field in the first major league game played in California on April 15, 1958. Two seasons with Toronto of the International League followed, the second of them good enough - 24 home runs, 86 RBIs, a .384 on-base percentage - to win him the 1960 league Most Valuable Player award. Cleveland bought him and then left him unprotected, and the expansion Washington Senators took him in the December 1960 draft. He outlasted all 27 other original Senators draftees, staying in Washington until June 1967. His best season was 1963: career highs of 24 home runs and 62 RBIs. The next May he hit for the cycle at Fenway Park, the only cycle in that Washington franchise's eleven seasons. Teammates called him "Sky" King, for the television series and his dread of flying. His last game came September 24, 1967, closing 11 major league seasons at .240 with 117 home runs and 401 RBIs in 1,125 games. He went home to Elkins, spent 24 years with the local telephone company while raising cattle on his farm, and never boarded an airplane again.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 272 | 1 | 14 | 146 | 68 | 28 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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
More Washington Senators cards:
- #117 Dale Long
- #129 Ed Hobaugh
- #134 Mickey Vernon
- #146 Marty Keough
- #158 Pete Daley
- #174 Ray Semproch
- #187 Billy Klaus
- #206 Gene Green
- #229 Rudy Hernandez
- #239 Dave Sisler
- #259 John Schaive
- #275 Gene Woodling
- #293 Tom Sturdivant
- #318 Danny O'Connell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #351 card?
It is card #351 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim King of the Washington Senators.
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.