1961 Topps #21 Zorro Versalles
The card prints his first name as "Zorro," the nickname he carried through the majors, rather than Zoilo.
About Zorro Versalles
Card #21 is a first-series card in the 1961 Topps set and his recognized rookie card. It carries a printing quirk collectors still point out: Topps set his first name in type as "Zorro," the nickname English-speaking teammates had hung on him at his first Washington spring training. That summer, the franchise's first in Minnesota, he took over shortstop from fellow Cuban Jose Valdivielso, hitting .280 with 25 doubles, 7 home runs and 53 runs batted in over 129 games. That .280 average stood as his career high; he never topped it in the nine seasons that followed.
Zoilo Casanova Versalles Rodriguez, born December 18, 1939 in Havana, Cuba, was a shortstop signed by the Washington Senators in 1958. He debuted on August 1, 1959, hit just .153 in that trial, and went back to the minors before returning for good in 1961, the season the franchise settled in Minnesota as the Twins. He gave the position uncommon offense for the era, pacing the American League in triples three times and reaching double figures in home runs four straight years. The peak came in 1965: he led the league in runs, doubles, triples, extra-base hits and total bases, won a second Gold Glove, and was a near-unanimous American League Most Valuable Player, the first Latin American-born player to take the award. A hematoma in his lower back in 1966 never fully healed and his hitting collapsed. Minnesota traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers after 1967; he later played for Cleveland, the expansion Washington Senators and Atlanta, spent a season in the Mexican League, and closed out in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1972. He died in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1995 at 55. He was elected to the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2006; he is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 605 | 6 | 67 | 289 | 146 | 49 | 16 | 28 | 4 |
| SGC | 52 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
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 #21 card?
It is card #21 of the 587-card 1961 Topps Baseball set, picturing Zorro Versalles of the Minnesota Twins.
Is 1961 Topps #21 a rookie card?
Yes - #21 is the 1961 Topps rookie card of Zorro Versalles.
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.