1961 Topps #209 Ken McBride
About Ken McBride
Topps gave McBride card #209 in 1961, a third-series number carrying the Los Angeles Angels name in the club's first American League season. He handed the new team its front-line starter immediately: on May 23, 1961, at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, he shut out the Cleveland Indians for the first shutout in franchise history. He and Ryne Duren were the only two Angels chosen for the All-Star teams that summer, and McBride sat on the roster for both games played that year without pitching in either. He finished 12-15 with a 3.65 ERA over 241 innings, struck out 180, and along the way served up Roger Maris' 50th home run of 1961 in a game he won anyway, 4-3.
Kenneth Faye McBride was born August 12, 1935, in Huntsville, Alabama, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he starred in baseball and basketball at West High School and led the basketball team to a state championship in 1952. The Boston Red Sox signed him for a $500 bonus after he graduated in 1953, and he spent six seasons in their farm system before the first-place Chicago White Sox bought his contract on August 1, 1959. Three days later he made his major league debut, starting at Baltimore. Left unprotected that winter, he was the Angels' seventh pick in the December 1960 expansion draft, and Los Angeles made him: he anchored the rotation for three years, went 36-32 from 1961 through 1963, and was named to the American League All-Star team in all three seasons, starting the 1963 game in his hometown of Cleveland. An arm injury in his second start of 1964 took away his sinker and curve, and he closed a seven-year career with a 40-50 record, a 3.79 ERA and 503 strikeouts. He later coached in the Milwaukee organization and was the Brewers' major league pitching coach in 1974 and 1975, then went home to Cleveland to raise his family and run a construction company.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 375 | 3 | 36 | 196 | 85 | 33 | 9 | 13 | 0 |
| SGC | 17 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #209 card?
It is card #209 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ken McBride of the Los Angeles Angels.
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.