1961 Topps #498 Ray Herbert
About Ray Herbert
Kansas City handed Herbert the Opening Day start at Boston and won it, but by early June he was 3-6 with a 5.38 ERA, the Yankees having just raked him for nine hits. A day later he was gone, one of eight players in a June 10 swap that sent him to Chicago with Don Larsen, Andy Carey and Al Pilarcik. The change took at once: a three-hit complete game against the Angels in his first White Sox outing, then a 9-6 finish that squared his combined season at 12-12. Card #498 comes out of the sixth print series, and it still shows him as an Athletic.
Raymond Ernest Herbert was born in Detroit on December 15, 1929, and signed with his hometown Tigers for $4,000 out of Detroit Catholic Central High School, reaching the majors with a complete-game loss at Philadelphia on August 27, 1950. Army service during the Korean War cost him most of 1951 and all of 1952, and for a decade his sinking fastball outran his command: mop-up innings and spot starts for second-division Tigers and Kansas City Athletics clubs, plus two full seasons back in Triple-A in 1956 and 1957. A trade to the Chicago White Sox in June 1961 changed all of it. Pitching coach Ray Berres rebuilt a windup that had been pulling his head and body forward and boring the ball in on right-handed hitters, and Herbert went 48-32 in three and a half seasons in Chicago, including a 20-9 All-Star year in 1962 and a league-leading seven shutouts in 1963. Dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies in December 1964, he closed a fourteen-season, 104-107 career in 1966, then threw batting practice for the Tigers from 1967 to 1992.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 274 | 5 | 19 | 111 | 100 | 24 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #297 Kansas City Athletics Team
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #8 Dick Williams
- #24 Ken Johnson
- #39 Leo Posada
- #57 Marv Throneberry
- #94 Johnny Kucks
- #106 Whitey Herzog
- #119 A's Big Armor
- #143 Russ Snyder
- #177 Don Larsen
- #197 Dick Hall
- #199 Bob Boyd
- #212 Haywood Sullivan
- #224 Joe Gordon
- #248 Ed Keegan
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #498 card?
It is card #498 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ray Herbert of the Kansas City Athletics.
Why is #498 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.