1963 Topps #161 Frank Torre
About Frank Torre
Torre's last big-league season was mostly bench work: 92 games, but only 21 starts at first base and 39 pinch-hitting appearances, with a .250 average and 10 RBIs in 112 at-bats for a Phillies club that finished 87-75 and fourth. On September 28 he took Phil Ortega deep for the last home run of his career, the only one he hit all season, in a 12-3 rout of the Dodgers, who went on to win the World Series. He played his final game the next day, and when Philadelphia sold his contract to Triple-A Little Rock he retired rather than go back to the minors. This 1963 Topps card, number 161 in the second series, shows him with the Phillies.
Frank Torre was a left-handed first baseman from Brooklyn who spent seven big-league seasons with the Milwaukee Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. Signed by the Boston Braves as a schoolboy pitcher and converted to first base in the minors, he served 14 months in Korea before reaching the majors in 1956. Valued more for his glove than his bat, he led National League first basemen in fielding percentage in 1957 and 1958, his two best offensive years at .272 and .309. He was part of Milwaukee's back-to-back pennant winners, hitting .300 with two home runs in the Braves' seven-game 1957 World Series triumph over the Yankees. Optioned to the minors in 1960 and kept there all of 1961, he hit well enough at Triple-A that Philadelphia bought his contract, and he closed out his career as a Phillies backup. He finished at .273 with 13 home runs and 179 RBIs, struck out just 64 times in 1,482 at-bats, and fielded .993 in 564 games at first base. He was the older brother of Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre, and in October 1996 he received a heart transplant the night before Joe managed the Yankees to a World Series title. After retiring he went into sporting goods and became a Rawlings vice president. He died in 2014 at 82.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 207 | 0 | 4 | 85 | 79 | 29 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 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.
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Related cards
Team card: #13 Philadelphia Phillies
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #29 1963 Rookie Stars
- #32 Tony Gonzalez
- #56 Dennis Bennett
- #71 Bobby Wine
- #91 Dallas Green
- #132 Jack Hamilton
- #139 Earl Averill
- #192 Clay Dalrymple
- #221 Cookie Rojas
- #241 Billy Smith
- #268 Don Demeter
- #283 Roy Sievers
- #305 Don Hoak
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #161 card?
It is card #161 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Torre of the Philadelphia Phillies.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: 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.