1961 Topps #113 Mike Fornieles
About Mike Fornieles
Card #113 in Topps' 1961 set, from the second print series, shows Fornieles with the Boston Red Sox, and it reached collectors on the heels of the best season of his career. In 1960 he went 10-5 with a 2.64 ERA and worked all seventy of his games in relief, an American League record at the time, while finishing a league-best 48 games and tying Cleveland's Johnny Klippstein for the AL save lead with fourteen. The Sporting News named him its first American League Fireman of the Year. He was also the winning pitcher on September 28, 1960, in the final game Ted Williams ever played.
Jose Miguel Fornieles y Torres was born January 18, 1932, in Havana, Cuba, signed with the Washington Senators out of amateur ball, and debuted on September 2, 1952, at age twenty with a one-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Athletics. Washington traded him to the Chicago White Sox that winter for Chuck Stobbs. He moved to Baltimore in a six-player swap in May 1956, then to the Boston Red Sox on June 14, 1957, for infielder Billy Goodman. Boston used the right-hander as a starter at first, then turned him into its bullpen ace: he pitched only in relief from 1959 on, and in 1960 he set an American League record with seventy relief appearances, led the league with 48 games finished, tied for the AL save lead, and won the first Sporting News American League Fireman of the Year Award. His lone All-Star selection came in 1961. In Cuban League winters with Marianao he was Rookie of the Year and an ERA champion, and he pitched the Tigres to back-to-back Caribbean Series titles. He finished 63-64 with 55 saves and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1998 at 66.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 390 | 0 | 3 | 93 | 166 | 80 | 31 | 17 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1961 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #373 Boston Red Sox Team
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #16 Billy Muffett
- #33 Gary Geiger
- #53 Russ Nixon
- #69 Earl Wilson
- #81 Tracy Stallard
- #99 Don Buddin
- #128 Rip Repulski
- #173 Beantown Bombers
- #193 Gene Conley
- #210 Pete Runnels
- #221 Mike Higgins
- #236 Don Gile
- #257 Carroll Hardy
- #268 Ike DeLock
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #113 card?
It is card #113 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike Fornieles of the Boston Red 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.