1961 Topps #508 Rocky Bridges
About Rocky Bridges
Card 508 puts Bridges in a Los Angeles Angels cap in his last big-league season, the expansion club having signed him in January 1961 after the Cardinals released him. It landed in Topps' sixth series, and Bridges had been in the majors a decade by then. He opened the year on the bench, then worked into regular duty at short and second for manager Bill Rigney, batting .240 in 84 games as the Angels won 70, the most ever by a first-year expansion club. His Fourth of July three-run homer was his first in more than two years.
Everett Lamar Bridges was born in Refugio, Texas, on August 7, 1927, and grew up in Long Beach, California, where he signed with Brooklyn after a Dodgers tryout camp. The nickname "Rocky" came to him in the minors at Greenville in 1948, though he told three different versions of who gave it to him. He reached the majors in 1951 and lasted 11 seasons with seven clubs: the Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels. Blocked in Brooklyn behind Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, he sat out the 1952 World Series the Yankees won, then went to Cincinnati in a four-team trade and was claimed off waivers by Washington in 1957, where the Senators handed him the shortstop job. Casey Stengel picked him as last-place Washington's lone 1958 All-Star, and he never got into the game. He hit .247 with 16 home runs and 187 RBIs, and was known far more for his hustle, his chew and his one-liners than for his numbers. He coached in the majors and managed more than 20 years in the minors, and died in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on January 28, 2015.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 382 | 3 | 30 | 200 | 96 | 30 | 18 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 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
More Los Angeles Angels cards:
- #65 Ted Kluszewski
- #121 Eli Grba
- #156 Ken Hunt
- #163 Ed Sadowski
- #176 Ken Aspromonte
- #184 Steve Bilko
- #195 Jerry Casale
- #209 Ken McBride
- #216 Ted Bowsfield
- #225 Bill Rigney
- #246 Bob Davis
- #263 Ken Hamlin
- #272 Tom Morgan
- #282 Faye Throneberry
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #508 card?
It is card #508 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Rocky Bridges of the Los Angeles Angels.
Why is #508 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.