1961 Topps #139 Solly Hemus
About this card
Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
About Solly Hemus
Hemus was in his third season running the Cardinals when this card came out, and it is one of the manager cards in the 1961 set: card #139, a second-series number with the St. Louis club. His first St. Louis team finished seventh at 71-83 in 1959, his second jumped to third at 86-68 in 1960, and the third never got going. Sitting sixth at 33-41 in early July, Hemus was fired and replaced by coach Johnny Keane, who went 47-33 the rest of the way. Hemus finished 190-192 and never managed in the majors again.
Solly Hemus was a scrappy, left-handed-hitting infielder who spent eleven big league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, batting .273 with 736 hits and 51 home runs. He grew up in San Diego and served four years in the Navy during World War Two before signing with the Cardinals organization in 1946, Brooklyn having released him in spring training. He broke in at St. Louis in 1949 and took over as the regular shortstop and leadoff man in 1951, making a career out of crowding the plate: he led the National League in times hit by a pitch three times. His best season was 1952, when he led the league with 105 runs scored and drew 96 walks while playing the aggressive, combative style he modeled on manager Eddie Stanky. St. Louis writer Bob Broeg nicknamed him Mighty Mouse. Late in his playing days, Cardinals owner August Busch named him player-manager for 1959, remembering a thank-you letter Hemus had written after being traded away. He managed St. Louis into July 1961 and finished 190-192; Bob Gibson and Curt Flood both said he told them they would not make it. He coached for the Mets and Indians, and was ejected 30 times as a player and manager.
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 | 331 | 0 | 9 | 128 | 142 | 38 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 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
Team card: #347 St. Louis Cardinals Team
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- #52 George Crowe
- #64 Alex Grammas
- #75 Lindy Shows Larry
- #91 Walt Moryn
- #118 Chris Cannizzaro
- #127 Ron Kline
- #148 Julian Javier
- #178 Bob Nieman
- #198 Carl Sawatski
- #211 Bob Gibson
- #232 Bill White
- #241 Al Cicotte
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #139 card?
It is card #139 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Solly Hemus of the St. Louis Cardinals. Cards #131-139 and #219-226 are the manager subset: seventeen skippers in the same portrait layout as the players.
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.