1961 Topps #65 Ted Kluszewski
About Ted Kluszewski
Kluszewski closed out his career in 1961 with the expansion Los Angeles Angels, who grabbed him in the December 1960 expansion draft after the White Sox left the 36-year-old unprotected. Back and leg trouble held him to .243 with 15 homers in 107 games, but he opened the franchise's history with a bang: in the Angels' very first game, April 11 at Baltimore, he homered off Milt Pappas in the first inning for the first home run in club history and again in the second, five runs in a 7-2 win. Card 65 belongs to Topps' first series, just a final look at Big Klu, now in an Angels uniform.
Theodore Bernard Kluszewski, known as Big Klu, was a power-hitting first baseman born September 10, 1924, in Argo, a section of Summit, Illinois. A football and baseball standout at Indiana University, he signed with Cincinnati after graduating in 1946, debuted with the Reds in April 1947 and took over first base for good early in 1948. Built like a strongman at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, he became famous for cutting the sleeves off his jersey because they restricted his swing. From 1953 through 1956 he was a four-time All-Star, averaging about 43 home runs and 116 RBI a year and topping the National League in both homers (49) and RBI (141) in 1954. He paired that power with rare contact skill: in 1955 he hit 47 home runs while striking out only 40 times. A slipped disc ended his prime, and after Cincinnati he played for Pittsburgh and the Chicago White Sox, helping the 1959 Go-Go Sox to the American League pennant and hitting three home runs in a World Series the Dodgers won. He closed out with the 1961 Angels, retired at .298 with 279 homers, and later coached the Big Red Machine. The Reds retired his number 18 and put him in their team Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 579 | 1 | 33 | 224 | 165 | 78 | 44 | 34 | 0 |
| SGC | 74 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 1 |
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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #65 card?
It is card #65 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ted Kluszewski of the Los Angeles Angels.
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.