1961 Topps #392 Reno Bertoia
About Reno Bertoia
In 1961 Bertoia was the Opening Day third baseman for the brand-new Minnesota Twins and homered off Ralph Terry in the club's 6-0 season-opening win at Yankee Stadium; in the Minneapolis home opener he collected the first Twins major league hit at Metropolitan Stadium. He struggled afterward, and on June 1, batting .212 with two home runs, he became the first Twin ever traded, sent to the Kansas City Athletics with pitcher Paul Giel in a deal that brought outfielder Bill Tuttle to Minnesota. Card number 392 in the 1961 Topps set falls in the fifth print series.
Reno Bertoia, born in San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, in 1935, moved to Windsor, Ontario, as a toddler and grew up idolizing his Italian-born neighbor Hank Biasatti, a brief major leaguer. Bertoia signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1953 as one of baseball's original bonus babies, debuting at age 18 against Satchel Paige. In 1957 he won the Tigers' third-base job and carried the American League batting lead into mid-May while leading the All-Star voting at third base, but a sore shoulder cooled him off and he was not selected. Over a ten-season career, the longest of any Italian-born major leaguer, he played infield for the Tigers, the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise, and the Kansas City Athletics, batting .244 with 27 home runs and 171 RBIs. On May 7, 1958, he became the first Italian-born player to hit a major league grand slam, off Camilo Pascual at Griffith Stadium. He also played briefly in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers in 1964. After retiring, Bertoia earned his teaching credentials and spent 30 years as a high school teacher in Windsor. He is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, inducted in 1988.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 368 | 1 | 27 | 184 | 112 | 32 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 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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Related cards
Team card: #542 Minnesota Twins Team
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #4 Lenny Green
- #21 Zorro Versalles
- #36 Jack Kralick
- #63 Jim Kaat
- #80 Harmon Killebrew
- #92 Hal Naragon
- #108 Dan Dobbek
- #123 Billy Gardner
- #153 Don Lee
- #186 Elmer Valo
- #201 Pete Whisenant
- #226 Harry Lavagetto
- #235 Camilo Pascual
- #254 Ted Sadowski
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #392 card?
It is card #392 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Reno Bertoia 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.