1963 Topps #461 Norm Bass
About Norm Bass
Card #461 sits in the sixth series of 1963, a semi-high number. What it follows is a hard second year in Kansas City: 2-6 with a 6.09 ERA across 22 games, only 10 of them starts, and 33 strikeouts in 75.1 innings. The card also outlived the arm it pictures. Bass got into three games in 1963 for 7.2 innings and threw his last big-league pitch on April 26, and by the next season rheumatoid arthritis had moved him out of baseball and into the Denver Broncos secondary. This was the second and last Topps card of his playing days.
Norman Delaney Bass Jr., born January 21, 1939 in Laurel, Mississippi and raised in Vallejo, California, was a right-handed pitcher who signed with the Kansas City Athletics before the 1958 season and began in the Pioneer League at Pocatello. He reached the majors on April 23, 1961 at age 22, and across three seasons with Kansas City went 13-17 with a 5.32 ERA in 65 games, 34 of them starts, striking out 111. His rookie year gave him the stories he told the rest of his life: a strikeout of Mickey Mantle at Yankee Stadium, and home run number 27 for Roger Maris during the Yankee slugger's run at 61. Rheumatoid arthritis, which a doctor finally put a name to while Bass was still in his twenties, took the arm away, and his last big-league appearance came on April 26, 1963. The younger brother of Rams running back Dick Bass, he played defensive back for the AFL's Denver Broncos in 1964, one of fewer than 70 men to play both professional baseball and football. Table tennis came after that: a doubles bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games at age 61, and election to the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame in 2018. He died on June 15, 2024.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 294 | 1 | 25 | 152 | 80 | 25 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #397 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #2 1962 American League Batting Leaders
- #23 Ed Lopat
- #51 George Alusik
- #67 Ed Charles
- #82 Ed Rakow
- #104 Lew Krausse
- #124 Dick Howser
- #157 Diego Segui
- #195 Manny Jimenez
- #214 Orlando Pena
- #236 Bill Bryan
- #253 1963 Rookie Stars
- #256 Jerry Lumpe
- #282 Bob Del Greco
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #461 card?
It is card #461 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Norm Bass of the Kansas City Athletics.
Why is #461 harder to find?
It is a semi-high card from the sixth print series, #447-511 - the run where the set's short prints sit. Scarcer than series 1-5, easier than series 7.
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.