1961 Topps #458 Willie Tasby
About Willie Tasby
Washington grabbed him from the Red Sox with the 37th pick of the December 1960 expansion draft, the first outfielder taken, and he opened the new club's first season in center field. He started 134 of the 141 games he played, hit .251 with a career-best 17 homers, and led the team with 63 RBI. Topps placed him at number 458, a sixth-series card. 1961 was his fourth big league season.
Willie Tasby Jr. (1933-2022) was a right-handed-hitting center fielder who spent nine seasons in the St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles farm system before debuting in the majors in 1958. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he grew up in Oakland, California, and starred at McClymonds High School under coach George Powles, the same program that produced Frank Robinson, Curt Flood and Vada Pinson. After a standout 1958 season with Triple-A Louisville, where he hit .322, led the American Association with 174 hits and was voted its Rookie of the Year, Tasby earned a spot on Baltimore's roster and, in 1959, made the inaugural Topps All-Star Rookie Team. A June 1960 trade to Boston for Gene Stephens brought his best season at the plate, a .281 average in 105 games. He played 583 major league games over six seasons with the Orioles, Red Sox, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians, mostly in center field, finishing with a .250 average, 46 home runs and 174 RBI. He later spoke candidly about the racism he met in the minor leagues, saying it delayed his path to the majors. He died in 2022 at age 89 and is buried at Garden of Peace Cemetery in Plant City, Florida.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Retrosheet
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 371 | 1 | 45 | 174 | 110 | 27 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 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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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1961 Topps #458 card?
It is card #458 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Willie Tasby of the Washington Senators.
Why is #458 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.