1965 Topps #161 Frank Baumann
About Frank Baumann
Baumann's last year with the White Sox was a short one: 32 innings, all in relief, and a 6.19 ERA. That December Chicago sent him across town to the Cubs for catcher Jimmie Schaffer, believed to be the first player-for-player trade the two Chicago clubs ever made with one another. Card #161 lists him with the Cubs, the only card in this decade of Topps sets that does. It comes from the set's second print series. He pitched four times for the Cubs, made his last big league appearance on May 8, 1965, and was sent to the minors that month.
Frank Baumann, born in St. Louis on July 1, 1933, was a left-handed pitcher who became one of the premier bonus babies of the 1950s. He pitched Central High School to three straight Missouri state titles and closed his prep career with a no-hitter, and on June 19, 1952 he signed with the Boston Red Sox for a reported $86,000 - the highest price ever paid for a free agent's signature at the time. Owner Tom Yawkey called him Beau. Army service during the Korean War interrupted his climb, and the arm trouble he picked up in uniform - the result of endless push-ups, not pitching - shadowed the rest of his career. He debuted for Boston on July 31, 1955 with 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win, but needed return trips to the minors from 1956 through 1958 before spending all of 1959 in the majors. Boston traded him to the Chicago White Sox that November for Ron Jackson, and in 1960 he went 13-6 and led American League pitchers with a 2.67 ERA. He stayed with Chicago through 1964, moved across town to the Cubs, and finished in 1965 at 45-38 with a 4.11 ERA and 384 strikeouts over 797 1/3 innings. He died in St. Louis on December 13, 2020.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 255 | 2 | 30 | 155 | 45 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #161 card?
It is card #161 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Frank Baumann of the Chicago Cubs.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, 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 2026-10-11.