1961 Topps #501 John DeMerit
About John DeMerit
DeMerit's 1961 Topps card, #501, is a card out of the set's sixth series and his recognized rookie card, picturing him with the Milwaukee Braves. It arrived during his only full major-league season, and a thin one it was: 32 games, 74 at-bats, a .162 average. Two of his 12 hits left the yard, though, and both were firsts. On April 26 at Busch Stadium he took Cardinals starter Larry Jackson deep for two runs, and on September 15 at the Los Angeles Coliseum he led off the game with a solo shot against Sandy Koufax, a swing the Dodgers answered with an 11-2 rout.
John DeMerit was a Wisconsin outfielder who signed a $100,000 bonus contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves on May 26, 1957, after a standout career at the University of Wisconsin, where he set a school record with 12 home runs in a season. Born in West Bend and raised in Port Washington, he was bound by the era's bonus rule to stay on the Braves' major-league roster all of 1957, and he got into 33 games as a 21-year-old rookie with only five singles to show for 34 at-bats. Milwaukee still won the pennant, and DeMerit appeared in the World Series as a pinch runner in Game Three as the Braves beat the New York Yankees for the championship. Once the bonus rule changed he spent most of 1958 and 1959 and all of 1960 in the farm system, surfacing in Milwaukee for only 14 games across those two seasons. His one full big-league year came in 1961, and after the Braves left him unprotected the New York Mets took him in the October 1961 expansion draft. He finished with a .174 average, 23 hits, three home runs and seven RBIs over 93 games.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet (1) · Retrosheet (2) · Retrosheet (3)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 256 | 0 | 20 | 107 | 81 | 27 | 12 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 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: #463b Milwaukee Braves Team
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- #84 Lee Maye
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- #105 Carl Willey
- #120 Ed Mathews
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- #145 Bob Buhl
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #501 card?
It is card #501 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing John DeMerit of the Milwaukee Braves.
Is 1961 Topps #501 a rookie card?
Yes - #501 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of John DeMerit.
Why is #501 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.