1961 Topps #143 Russ Snyder
The front pictures Snyder in a Kansas City Athletics uniform; the back already lists him with the Baltimore Orioles after the January 1961 trade.
Uncorrected error: The front lists him with the Kansas City Athletics and the back with the Baltimore Orioles.
About Russ Snyder
Topps put Snyder at #143 in its 1961 set, in the second series, and the timing caught him mid-move: the front photo has him in a Kansas City Athletics uniform while the back already lists him with Baltimore. The Athletics had shipped him and Whitey Herzog to the Orioles on January 24, 1961, in a seven-player swap that brought Jim Archer, Bob Boyd, Wayne Causey, Clint Courtney and Al Pilarcik to Kansas City. The card closes out his Athletics file, which ended with a .260 average across 125 games in 1960, only 64 of them as a starter.
Russell Henry Snyder, born June 22, 1934, in Oak, Nebraska, was a left-handed hitting, right-handed throwing outfielder who spent 12 major league seasons, 1959 through 1970, with five American League clubs. The Yankees signed him in August 1952 and he began his professional career in 1953, leading the Class D Sooner State League at .432. New York traded him to the Kansas City Athletics in April 1959, and he hit .313 as a rookie, finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year voting. A January 1961 trade sent him to Baltimore, where he spent seven seasons as a platoon outfielder and hit a team-best .305 in 1962. He was an important piece of the Orioles' first World Series championship in 1966, then finished up with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers; his last big league game came September 30, 1970, and Milwaukee released him in March 1971. He batted .271 with 984 hits, 42 home runs and 319 runs batted in over 1,365 games, fielding .981 at all three outfield spots. He is not a National Baseball Hall of Famer, but was inducted into the Nebraska Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 287 | 0 | 10 | 99 | 107 | 51 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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
- #177 Don Larsen
- #197 Dick Hall
- #199 Bob Boyd
- #212 Haywood Sullivan
- #224 Joe Gordon
- #248 Ed Keegan
- #267 Norm Siebern
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #143 card?
It is card #143 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Russ Snyder of the Kansas City Athletics.
Does 1961 Topps #143 have an error?
The front lists him with the Kansas City Athletics and the back with the Baltimore Orioles. It was never corrected, so there is no variation to chase - every copy of #143 reads the same way.
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.