1961 Topps #471 Phil Rizzuto
About this card
Cards #471-486 are the Most Valuable Players subset - sixteen tributes to past MVP winners, American League #471-478 and National League #479-486, each printed with the franchise of the MVP season.
About Phil Rizzuto
Card #471 opens the 1961 Topps Most Valuable Player subset, sixteen cards (#471-486) that look back across the American and National League MVPs of the 1950s; Rizzuto's Yankees card leads the run, for the 1950 American League award he took with a .324 average and 200 hits. It is a series-six issue. By then, Rizzuto had been on cardboard since 1941, with Bowman and Topps issues throughout his playing days. By 1961 he had been out of the Yankees lineup since August 1956 and was calling their games on radio and television, so the card reads as a tribute rather than a current portrait.
Philip Francis Rizzuto, the Brooklyn-born shortstop nicknamed "Scooter" by minor league teammate Billy Hitchcock for the way he ran the bases at Kansas City, spent all thirteen of his major league seasons with the New York Yankees (1941-1942, 1946-1956), losing three years to Navy service in World War II. Listed at five feet six, he became one of the best shortstops of his era and one of the game's great bunting artists, anchoring Yankees clubs that took nine American League pennants and seven World Series titles, five of them in a row from 1949 through 1953. Rizzuto made five All-Star teams, in 1942 and every year from 1950 to 1953, and peaked in 1950: a .324 average, 200 hits, 125 runs, 92 walks and the American League Most Valuable Player award. The Yankees released him on August 25, 1956, ending a career at a .273 average whose 1,217 double plays then trailed only Luke Appling's in major league history. He moved straight into the broadcast booth for a forty-year run on Yankees radio and television, famous for his rambling style and his cry of "Holy cow!" The Veterans Committee voted him into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994; the Yankees retired his number 10 and honored him in Monument Park.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Cardboard Connection (1) · Cardboard Connection (2) · PSA
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 848 | 1 | 12 | 156 | 217 | 181 | 122 | 156 | 3 |
| SGC | 249 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 34 | 47 | 68 | 89 | 3 |
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 #471 card?
It is card #471 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Phil Rizzuto of the New York Yankees. Cards #471-486 are the Most Valuable Players subset - sixteen tributes to past MVP winners, American League #471-478 and National League #479-486, each printed with the franchise of the MVP season.
Why is #471 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.