1961 Topps #53 Russ Nixon
About Russ Nixon
Card #53 comes out of the 1961 Topps first series, a plain low number, and it lists Nixon with the Boston Red Sox less than a year after Cleveland finally sent him east for good on June 13, 1960. He worked that summer as the platoon partner and backup to Jim Pagliaroni, getting into 87 games and hitting .289 with 19 runs batted in. Four seasons in Cleveland, 1957 through 1960, came first.
Russ Nixon was a left-handed-hitting catcher who spent twelve major-league seasons, from 1957 to 1968, with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Minnesota Twins. Born in Cleves, Ohio, on February 19, 1935, he signed with Cleveland in 1953 out of Cincinnati's Western Hills High School alongside his twin brother Roy, and reached the Indians in 1957. His best year came in 1958, when he batted .301 in 113 games. Cleveland dealt him to Boston in March 1960 for catcher Sammy White and first baseman Jim Marshall, but White retired rather than report and the commissioner voided the deal; on June 13 the Indians sent Nixon and Carroll Hardy to the Red Sox for Ted Bowsfield and Marty Keough. He platooned behind the plate in Boston through 1965, went to Minnesota in an April 1966 trade, and came back to the Red Sox for his last big-league games in 1968. Over 906 games he batted .268 with 670 hits and 27 home runs, and he holds the major-league record for most games played without a stolen base. He later coached the 1976 world-champion Reds and managed both Cincinnati and Atlanta.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 437 | 3 | 69 | 254 | 67 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
| SGC | 21 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 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: #373 Boston Red Sox Team
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- #81 Tracy Stallard
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- #113 Mike Fornieles
- #128 Rip Repulski
- #173 Beantown Bombers
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- #210 Pete Runnels
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #53 card?
It is card #53 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Russ Nixon of the Boston Red Sox.
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.