1961 Topps #265 Tony Kubek
About Tony Kubek
1961 Topps #265 lands in the third series, and it follows the best all-around year Kubek had. In 1960 he worked 136 games at shortstop, set career highs with 14 home runs and 62 runs batted in, and hit .273 over 147 games. The card also reached candy counters with that October still raw: in Game Seven at Forbes Field, a Bill Virdon ground ball took a bad hop and caught Kubek in the throat, knocking him out an inning before Bill Mazeroski's home run beat the Yankees. He was entering his fifth big-league season, and new manager Ralph Houk would make a point of announcing that shortstop belonged to him.
Anthony Christopher Kubek, born October 12, 1935, in Milwaukee, signed with the New York Yankees out of Bay View High School in 1954 for a $1,500 bonus. He hit .344 at Class D Owensboro that first summer and .334 at Class B Quincy in 1955, then reached New York in 1957. Used all over the field as a rookie -- 41 games at shortstop, 38 at third base, 53 in the outfield -- he batted .297 and was voted American League Rookie of the Year. He won the shortstop job in 1958 and held it for good once Ralph Houk took over in 1961, pairing with second baseman Bobby Richardson on one of the era's best double-play combinations. A left-handed hitter whose fielding percentage and range factor both bettered league average, Kubek was a four-time All-Star who played on seven pennant winners between 1957 and 1964 and three world champions. After the 1965 season, Mayo Clinic tests found nerve damage at the top of his spine from an untreated neck injury, and he retired. He broadcast 24 years for NBC, received the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters in 2009, and entered the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 678 | 3 | 15 | 175 | 177 | 131 | 89 | 86 | 2 |
| SGC | 76 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 2 |
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: #228 New York Yankees Team
More New York Yankees cards:
- #2 Roger Maris
- #19 Cletis Boyer
- #28 Hector Lopez
- #40 Bob Turley
- #68 Deron Johnson
- #104 John Blanchard
- #116 Joe DeMaestri
- #133 Ralph Houk
- #142 Luis Arroyo
- #160 Whitey Ford
- #180 Bobby Richardson
- #213 Bill Stafford
- #252 Bill Short
- #300 Mickey Mantle
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #265 card?
It is card #265 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tony Kubek of the New York Yankees.
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.