1961 Topps #334 Walt Bond
About Walt Bond
Card 334 sits in the fourth series of the 1961 set, a plain middle number; Bond's first Topps card had come a year earlier, in 1960. Cleveland used him strictly in the outfield in these seasons, never at first base, and the bat had not caught up to the frame. He hit .221 with five home runs in 40 games as a 22-year-old rookie in 1960, then .173 in 38 games in 1961, bouncing between the Indians and Triple-A without ever grabbing hold of a big league job.
Walter Franklin Bond stood 6 feet 7 inches, batted left and threw right, and came out of Denmark, Tennessee, by way of Lane College and a job with the Kansas City Monarchs in the last days of the Negro leagues. Cleveland signed him before the 1957 season. He hit .299 across a long minor league career that included a .320 year at Triple-A Salt Lake City in 1962, the same season he was diagnosed with leukemia while serving as a private first class in the U.S. Army. Houston general manager Paul Richards knew about the illness, had the club doctor confirm it was in remission, and finally gave Bond the everyday job Cleveland never did: 20 home runs and 85 RBIs in 1964, the best of his six big league seasons. He played 365 major league games in all, for the Indians, the Colt .45's and Astros, and the Twins, batting .256 with 41 home runs and 179 RBIs. He died of leukemia in Houston on September 14, 1967, a month short of 30, and is buried at Houston National Cemetery.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · The Hardball Times · The Baseball Cube
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 321 | 0 | 26 | 182 | 83 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 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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- #18 Jim Grant
- #34 Wynn Hawkins
- #60 Woodie Held
- #77 Dick Stigman
- #101 Bubba Phillips
- #115 Johnny Antonelli
- #155 Johnny Temple
- #172 Don Dillard
- #191 Mike de la Hoz
- #222 Jimmie Dykes
- #255 Vic Power
- #274 Gary Bell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #334 card?
It is card #334 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Walt Bond 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.