1961 Topps #319 Valmy Thomas
About Valmy Thomas
Cleveland was the last of the five cities Thomas called home in five big league seasons, and 1961 was mostly a minor league summer: he got into 27 games for the Indians, 21 of them starts behind the plate, and hit .209 with two home runs and six runs batted in. His final big league appearance came on October 1. Card 319 sits in the fourth print series.
Valmy Thomas was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, only because his mother went there for better medical care, and the family took him home to St. Croix; in 1957 he became the first Virgin Islander to reach the major leagues after integration. As a rookie semi-regular in New York he started more games behind the plate than any other Giants catcher, and in 1958 he opened the year catching the franchise's first official game on the West Coast. Philadelphia got him and Ruben Gomez from the Giants for Jack Sanford that December, and after short looks with Baltimore in 1960 and Cleveland in 1961 his big league book closed at 252 games, 144 hits, 12 home runs, 60 runs batted in and a .230 average, five seasons in five different cities, a run no other major leaguer has had. Winter ball was the steadier job: Puerto Rican Rookie of the Year with Santurce in 1950-51, 13 seasons with the Cangrejeros, five league championships and five Caribbean Series, plus a sixth as a reinforcement. His last minor league season was 1962, and he closed out his playing days in Puerto Rico that winter. Back on St. Croix he ran a Christiansted sporting goods store for more than four decades and served as a deputy commissioner overseeing the island's recreation programs.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 301 | 0 | 21 | 144 | 92 | 28 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 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: #467 Cleveland Indians Team
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- #115 Johnny Antonelli
- #155 Johnny Temple
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- #191 Mike de la Hoz
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #319 card?
It is card #319 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Valmy Thomas of the Cleveland Indians.
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.