1961 Topps #489 Walt Dropo
About Walt Dropo
Card #489 catches Dropo at the very end. By 1961 the 38-year-old was a bench man for the Baltimore Orioles, the last of his five major league stops, with Jim Gentile established at first base. He got into just 14 games, hit .259 in 27 at-bats, played his final one on May 17 and was released on May 20, closing a 13-season run that had opened with his debut for Boston on April 19, 1949. The card belongs to the sixth series, a group tougher to find than the early runs. His rookie year was 1950, eleven seasons earlier.
Walt Dropo was a 6-foot-5, 220-pound first baseman out of Moosup, Connecticut, the son of Serbian parents who emigrated from Trebinje, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. He played football, basketball and baseball at the University of Connecticut, left as the school's all-time leading basketball scorer, and lost three years to Army service in Europe during World War II. Drafted by the Chicago Bears and by the Providence Steamrollers, he turned both down and signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1947. After a .146 debut season in 1949 he broke through in 1950: a .322 average, 34 home runs, a league-best 326 total bases, and 144 RBIs that tied teammate Vern Stephens for the league lead, American League Rookie of the Year honors and a starting spot in the All-Star Game. He never approached that year again, but finished a 13-season career across five teams at .270 with 152 home runs and 704 RBIs. Traded to Detroit in June 1952, he tied the major league record with 12 hits in 12 straight plate appearances. Afterward he worked in insurance, real estate and the family fireworks business, and stayed close to his alma mater.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 285 | 0 | 10 | 118 | 96 | 30 | 18 | 13 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 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: #159 Baltimore Orioles Team
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #10 Brooks Robinson
- #26 Wes Stock
- #62 Al Pilarcik
- #71 Jerry Adair
- #85 Jerry Walker
- #102 Gene Stephens
- #125 Steve Barber
- #131 Paul Richards
- #140 Gus Triandos
- #182 Dave Nicholson
- #218 Hal Brown
- #240 Ron Hansen
- #256 Billy Hoeft
- #277 Hank Foiles
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #489 card?
It is card #489 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Walt Dropo of the Baltimore Orioles.
Why is #489 harder to find?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 447-522) - noticeably tougher than the first five, easier than the true highs.
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.