1961 Topps #520 Joe Cunningham
About Joe Cunningham
Topps' 1961 card reports the season Cunningham spent as St. Louis' regular right fielder: 108 starts out there in 1960, a .280 average with 6 home runs and 39 RBI in 139 games, and a league-high 10 errors that gave away the converted first baseman. He shrugged the year off as not a Joe Cunningham year. Card #520 sits in the sixth series, and his rookie card was a 1955 Topps issue. It is the last Topps card to show him in Cardinals flannel.
Joe Cunningham was a left-handed-hitting first baseman and outfielder who played twelve major-league seasons (1954, 1956-1966) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Washington Senators. Signed by the Cardinals out of Lodi High School in New Jersey in 1949, he lost two minor-league years to the Army. He bought an outfielder's glove and learned right field in 1957, after Stan Musial had moved back to first base, and broke out in 1959: a .345 average, second in the National League to Hank Aaron, a league-leading .453 on-base percentage, and selection to both All-Star Games played that summer, the only All-Star honors of his career. The press began calling him Smokey Joe in 1958. He finished with 980 hits, 64 home runs, 436 RBI, a .291 average and a .403 on-base percentage that ranks 48th all time among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances. Cunningham later managed Cardinals farm clubs and spent two decades in the team's front office, building its group and season ticket departments and introducing the mascot Fredbird. He entered the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, and died March 25, 2021, at 89.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 240 | 1 | 14 | 102 | 67 | 34 | 15 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 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: #347 St. Louis Cardinals Team
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #520 card?
It is card #520 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Cunningham of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Why is #520 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 447-522) - noticeably tougher than the first five, easier than the true highs.
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.