1961 Topps #201 Pete Whisenant
About Pete Whisenant
Card #201 in the 1961 Topps set catches Whisenant with the Minnesota Twins, the first Minnesota edition of a franchise that had spent six decades in Washington before moving after the 1960 season; he had finished 1960 in a Senators uniform after Cleveland traded him that May. A third-series card - he had debuted with the Boston Braves back on April 16, 1952. The Twins used him in only 10 games, mostly off the bench, and released him on May 16, 1961. Cincinnati took him back as a spare outfielder, and after his last big-league game on August 9 he finished the Reds' pennant-winning season on Fred Hutchinson's coaching staff.
Thomas Peter Whisenant, born in Asheville, North Carolina, on December 14, 1929, was a right-handed hitting and throwing outfielder who played all or parts of eight major league seasons (1952, then 1955 through 1961) as a reserve outfielder and utility man for the Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Redlegs/Reds, Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he appeared in 475 games, collecting 221 hits in 988 at-bats for a .224 average with 37 home runs and 134 RBI. His one year as a semi-regular came in 1956 with the Cubs, when he played 103 games and set career highs of 11 homers, 46 RBI and a .239 average. He is believed to be the only player ever announced in a box score for a club he no longer belonged to: on May 15, 1960, Cleveland sent him up to pinch hit minutes after trading him to Washington for Ken Aspromonte, and the White Sox played the game under protest. He later coached for the Reds under Fred Hutchinson in 1961 and 1962, managed in the Oakland Athletics farm system in 1982 and 1983, and founded a Christmas-week boys' baseball clinic in Punta Gorda, Florida. He died in Port Charlotte, Florida, on March 22, 1996.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 346 | 0 | 33 | 189 | 90 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #201 card?
It is card #201 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Whisenant of the Minnesota Twins.
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.