1961 Topps #133 Ralph Houk
About this card
Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
About Ralph Houk
Houk's first year running a big-league club, and few have had a better one: 109-53, eight games clear of Detroit, the 26th Yankees pennant, and a five-game World Series win over Cincinnati. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs and Mickey Mantle 54, part of a major league record 240 for the team, and the Yankees won a record 65 games at home. Card #133 is a manager-subset card from Topps' second series that year, a mid-range number, and it shows the new skipper before any of that had happened.
Ralph George Houk was born August 9, 1919, in Lawrence, Kansas, and was catching his way up through the New York Yankees farm system when World War II interrupted him. He served with the 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the 9th Armored Division, fought at Bastogne and through the Battle of the Bulge, and came home with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and the rank of Major that became his baseball nickname. Back in the Bronx, he spent eight seasons from 1947 through 1954 as a second- and third-string catcher behind Yogi Berra, getting into only 91 games while batting .272. He managed the Yankees' Triple-A Denver Bears, returned as Casey Stengel's first-base coach, and succeeded Stengel as manager for 1961. Three straight pennants and back-to-back World Series titles followed, then a move upstairs to general manager, a second term in the dugout from 1966 through 1973, and closing stints with Detroit and Boston. Cooperstown never called, but the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame counts him among its members.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 511 | 0 | 2 | 73 | 209 | 112 | 60 | 55 | 0 |
| SGC | 34 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 1 |
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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Related cards
Team card: #228 New York Yankees Team
More New York Yankees cards:
- #2 Roger Maris
- #19 Cletis Boyer
- #28 Hector Lopez
- #40 Bob Turley
- #68 Deron Johnson
- #104 John Blanchard
- #116 Joe DeMaestri
- #142 Luis Arroyo
- #160 Whitey Ford
- #180 Bobby Richardson
- #213 Bill Stafford
- #252 Bill Short
- #265 Tony Kubek
- #300 Mickey Mantle
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #133 card?
It is card #133 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ralph Houk of the New York Yankees. 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.