1961 Topps #221 Mike Higgins
About this card
Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
About Mike Higgins
Card 221 catches Higgins a full season into his second turn as Boston's manager, the job Tom Yawkey talked him back into in June 1960. His 1961 club went 76-86 and finished sixth in the newly expanded ten-team American League, 33 games behind the Yankees, with rookie Carl Yastrzemski taking over in left field. The card belongs to Topps' manager subset and was issued in the third series, so it sits in the middle of the checklist. It is a manager card; his playing days had ended 15 years earlier.
Michael Franklin Higgins, called Pinky from infancy for his rosy complexion, was a right-handed-hitting third baseman born in Red Oak, Texas in 1909. He spent three years at the University of Texas, signed with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1930 and took over third base full time in 1933, hitting .314 that year and .330 the next. Traded to Boston in December 1936 for Billy Werber, he batted .302 and .303 with 106 RBIs in each of his first two Red Sox seasons, and in June 1938 tied the major league record with base hits in 12 consecutive at-bats. Dealt to Detroit after that season, he held the Tigers' third-base job for six years and hit .333 in the 1940 World Series, a seven-game loss to Cincinnati. The Tigers sold him back to Boston in May 1946, and he started all seven games of that fall's World Series defeat to St. Louis. A three-time All-Star, he retired at .292 with 140 home runs and 1,075 RBIs in 1,802 games, then managed in the Red Sox farm system before running the big club across two stints between 1955 and 1962 and moving upstairs as general manager.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 337 | 1 | 30 | 172 | 87 | 29 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 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
- #113 Mike Fornieles
- #128 Rip Repulski
- #173 Beantown Bombers
- #193 Gene Conley
- #210 Pete Runnels
- #236 Don Gile
- #257 Carroll Hardy
- #268 Ike DeLock
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #221 card?
It is card #221 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mike Higgins of the Boston Red Sox. Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
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.