1961 Topps #79 Joe Ginsberg
About Joe Ginsberg
By 1961 Ginsberg was a well-traveled backup in his second season with the Chicago White Sox, the club shown on this card; he had signed with Al Lopez's team in June 1960, three days after Baltimore released him, and Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City were earlier stops. Card #79 comes from the first print series of the 1961 Topps set, and major-league service going back to 1948. He barely played that spring. Chicago released him on May 15, 1961, and Boston signed him two days later to back up Jim Pagliaroni and Russ Nixon, work that came to 19 games and a .250 average.
Joe Ginsberg was a left-handed-hitting catcher who spent 13 seasons in the major leagues between 1948 and 1962, appearing for the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. Born Myron Nathan Ginsberg in New York City and raised in Detroit, where his father ran a saloon five blocks from Briggs Stadium, he was signed by Tigers scout Wish Egan out of Cooley High School in 1944, spent two years in the Army in the Philippines, and debuted for Detroit in September 1948. He was an everyday catcher only in 1951 and 1952, and it was during that 1952 season, with Detroit buried in last place at 50-104, that he caught the first of Virgil Trucks' two no-hitters. Otherwise he was a backup receiver valued for his batting eye and his handling of pitchers, with a detour to Seattle in 1955 that produced a Pacific Coast League title and Player of the Year honors. He closed out with the 1962 expansion Mets, starting their first home game at the Polo Grounds. Ginsberg, who was Jewish, finished at .241 with 20 home runs and 182 RBIs in 695 games.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 450 | 3 | 60 | 258 | 87 | 28 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 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
Team card: #7 Chicago White Sox Team
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #30 Nellie Fox
- #56 Russ Kemmerer
- #90 Jerry Staley
- #124 J.C. Martin
- #132 Al Lopez
- #152 Earl Torgeson
- #157 Cal McLish
- #170 Al Smith
- #185 Herb Score
- #205 Bill Pierce
- #227 Juan Pizarro
- #247 Billy Goodman
- #271 Jim Landis
- #285 Sherm Lollar
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #79 card?
It is card #79 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Joe Ginsberg of the Chicago White Sox.
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.