1962 Topps #56 1961 NL ERA Leaders
On this card: Warren Spahn, Jim O'Toole, Curt Simmons, Mike McCormick
About this card
Cards #51-60 are the League Leaders subset, each card listing the 1961 leaders in one statistical category - batting, home runs, ERA, wins and strikeouts - with the American League card first and the National League card second in each pair.
The story on this card
Card 56 is a first-series League Leaders board recapping the 1961 National League ERA race, and the top of it was tight. Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves took the crown at 3.02, his third ERA title after 1947 and 1953; at 40 he also went 21-13 and tied Joey Jay for the league lead in wins. Cincinnati's Jim O'Toole followed at 3.10, going 19-9 for the pennant-winning Reds. St. Louis left-hander Curt Simmons was third at 3.13 despite finishing under .500, and San Francisco's Mike McCormick held the fourth spot at 3.20 while the Giants backed him to a 13-16 finish.
Warren Spahn - the winningest left-handed pitcher in baseball history, a Braves ace who won 20 games in 13 different seasons, threw no-hitters at 39 and 40, and was still going 23-7 at age 42. Jim O'Toole was Cincinnati's left-handed workhorse of the early 1960s, a 19-game winner in the Reds' 1961 pennant season who started twice against Whitey Ford in that World Series and started the 1963 All-Star Game for the National League. Curt Simmons was a hard-luck left-hander who anchored the Whiz Kids' 1950 pennant rotation, missed that World Series on National Guard duty, then resurfaced with St. Louis to start two games in the Cardinals' 1964 championship Series win over the Yankees. Mike McCormick was a teenage bonus baby who led the National League in ERA in 1960, lost his fastball to a wrecked shoulder, then rebuilt himself on a screwball and won the 1967 Cy Young Award for the Giants at twenty-nine.
Sources: Wikipedia (Warren Spahn) · Wikipedia (Curt Simmons) · Wikipedia (Mike McCormick (pitcher)) · SABR BioProject (Warren Spahn) · SABR BioProject (Jim Otoole) · SABR BioProject (Curt Simmons) · SABR BioProject (Mike Mccormick)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 665 | 0 | 12 | 204 | 261 | 94 | 44 | 47 | 3 |
| SGC | 76 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here. Slabs of the three cards printed #139 are joined by description, never by number alone. PSA registers the green tints as a separate set; a tint's population is listed under that state of the card it belongs to.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1962 Topps #56 card?
It is card #56 of the 600-card 1962 Topps Baseball set, picturing Warren Spahn, Jim O'Toole, Curt Simmons and Mike McCormick. Cards #51-60 are the League Leaders subset, each card listing the 1961 leaders in one statistical category - batting, home runs, ERA, wins and strikeouts - with the American League card first and the National League card second in each pair.
How many cards are in the 1962 Topps Baseball set?
600 cards, tracked as 708 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps, but three different cards were printed #139 - two Hal Reniff poses, catalogued 139a and 139b, and the Babe Hits 60 Babe Ruth Special, 139c - so 598 numbers make 600 cards; 93 cards carry catalogued print variations, the series-2 green tints among them, that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Baseball Almanac, Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-03.