1961 Topps #296 Wes Covington
About Wes Covington
The back of this series-4 card reports a rough 1960 for Covington: a .249 average with 10 home runs and 35 RBI in 95 games, his ankle still troubling him after he tore a ligament in August 1959. Card #296 is his last Topps issue in a Milwaukee uniform. He got into only nine games for the 1961 Braves, hit .190 with no RBI, and was gone on waivers in May.
John Wesley Covington entered pro ball in 1952 with the Class C Eau Claire Bears, then a Boston Braves farm club, rooming with Hank Aaron at the local YMCA; Aaron later wrote that onlookers then would have picked Covington as the future star. He debuted with Milwaukee on April 19, 1956, and became the Braves' left-handed power bat behind Aaron and Eddie Mathews, hitting .284 with 21 home runs in 1957 as Milwaukee beat the Yankees for the title, then .330 with 24 in 1958 before the Yankees won the rematch. A torn ankle ligament in August 1959 cost him his footing, and by 1961 he was out of Milwaukee, reaching Philadelphia after a midseason tour of two American League clubs. He spent five seasons as a Phillies platoon left fielder and pinch-hitter, clashing with manager Gene Mauch, and played his last big-league game in October 1966, finishing with a .279 average and 131 home runs over eleven seasons. He later ran businesses in Philadelphia and in Edmonton, Alberta, where he died in 2011.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 322 | 0 | 33 | 144 | 101 | 25 | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| SGC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 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: #463b Milwaukee Braves Team
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- #61 Ron Piche
- #73 Al Spangler
- #84 Lee Maye
- #89 Billy Martin
- #105 Carl Willey
- #120 Ed Mathews
- #137 Chuck Dressen
- #145 Bob Buhl
- #164 Felix Mantilla
- #183 Andre Rodgers
- #200 Warren Spahn
- #217 Mel Roach
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #296 card?
It is card #296 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Wes Covington of the Milwaukee Braves.
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.