1961 Topps Baseball Cards – 16 Most Valuable

If you want a cardboard snapshot of diamond history, you’ll have a hard time finding a better representation of an era than 1961 Topps baseball cards.

Sandwiched between the colorful, horizontal 1960s and the polarizing wood grain borders of the 1962, the 1961 Topps cards look tame by comparison.

But thanks to a gold rush of subsets, Topps managed to squeeze in multiple cards of the game’s biggest names, which included monster sluggers who rewrote the record books.

The result is a “most valuable” list that looks like a 1960s Dream Team of power and leaves little room for mere mortals.

This list of the dozen most valuable 1961 Topps baseball cards is culled from PSA 7 listings in the PSA Sports Market Report Price Guide, and it’s sure to dazzle you with its starlight.

Let’s dig in!

(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed.)

1961 Topps Mickey Mantle (#300)

Mickey Mantle may have considered 1956 to be his favorite summer, but there is little doubt which of The Mick’s seasons drew the most national attention …

In 1961, with teammate Roger Maris having won the American League MVP award in his first season with the New York Yankees (1960), speculation ran wild that maybe at least one of the dynamic duo could make a run at Babe Ruth‘s single-season home run record.

Somehow, the M & M Boys rose to the challenge and treated America to its first great home run race.

Though Mantle came up short in that sprint to history, his base card from their magical season sits at the top of the mountain all these years later.

Value: $1500-1600

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1961 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star (#578)

In 1961, Topps adopted the first of their newspaper background All-Star card designs, and Mantle looks downright newsworthy breaking out of the center of his card as the American League center fielder.

It’s another beloved Mantle card that trumps everything this set has to offer except the base Mantle card.

The All-Star issue is second only to The Mick’s base issue among 1961 Topps baseball cards.

Value: $700-800

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1961 Topps Mickey Mantle MVP (#475)

Sometimes, even two cards of a legend aren’t enough splash for a baseball card set, so manufacturers have to find ways to pump in more.

In 1961, Topps addressed the situation by including an MVP subset, and one of those cards celebrated Mantle’s hardware from 1956 and 1957.

With three cards in the top three, there’s no doubt that Mantle is the king of 1961 Topps baseball cards.

Value: $550-600

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1961 Topps Hank Aaron (#415)

Although Hank Aaron wasn’t considered a slugger in the same ilk as Mantle and Maris in 1961, the young Milwaukee Braves superstar had already captured a National League dinger title and the 1957 NL MVP award.

Of course, 13 years later, it would be Aaron taking aim at Ruth’s all-time career record for homers.

This 1961 Topps issue shows a primetime Hank rearing back with a baseball in his hand and the old tomahawk jersey shining through.

Value: $500-600

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1961 Topps Roger Maris (#2)

In that long-ago, season-long home run derby that has become part of baseball lore, Maris kept pushing, no matter what.

When Mantle fell off due to injury, Roger kept going.

When Maris’s own pace fell off, he kept plugging away.

When the commissioner announced that a new record wouldn’t count if it didn’t happen within 154 games, Maris kept at it.

And when he came into the Yanks’ 163rd game still tied with Ruth, Maris kept hacking.

When all was said and done, Maris did get his 61st, and the new record, asterisk be damned.

This is the card that collectors gazed upon as their new hero plugged away at history, and it’s a hobby classic today.

Value: $475-500

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1961 Topps Willie Mays (#150)

Mays may have been overshadowed by the American League fireworks in 1961, but he was in the midst of his own 40-homer season for the San Francisco Giants.

Four years later, the Say Hey Kid would tally his second 50-dinger summer en route to 660 in his career, all while displaying maybe the most well-rounded talent in baseball history.

This hatless Mays pasteboard is nevertheless a collector favorite.

Value: $400-475

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1961 Topps Juan Marichal Rookie Card (#417)

Juan Marichal was one of the great pitchers of the 1960s, which is really saying something considering how stout moundsmen were in general that decade.

Marichal also had one of the most identifiable deliveries the game has ever seen, prompting many youngsters to immitate the Cooperstown denizen’s high leg kick.

On the backs of all this legend, Manito’s smiling, short-printed rookie card is among the top sellers in this set.

Value: $300-350

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1961 Topps Willie Mays All-Star (#579)

Here is a case where card scarcity and an immortal of the game conspire to generate a value anomaly — an All-Star card worth more than the base card of the same player.

The 1961 Topps All-Star Mays falls in line with the others in the semi-high-number subset.

Value: $300-325

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1961 Topps Roberto Clemente (#388)

Clemente looks slightly miffed on this card, maybe even disdainful.

If I had to guess why, I’d say it has to do with Topps’ insistence on calling him “Bob” on cards throughout the 1960s.

What the heck?

Anyway, it’s a mid-career card of a baseball legend, and it sells well all these years later.

Value: $275-325

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1961 Topps Carl Yastrzemski (#287)

This isn’t technically Yaz’s rookie card, even though the word “rookie” is featured prominently right there on the front of the thing.

You could make a pretty strong case that this one looks better than his actual RC, in the 1960 Topps set, anyway, and this one features a blow-up of the same image — even if both are more “painting” than “photo.”

In any case, this is an early-career card of a baseball legend, so it’s little wonder this one appears on lists like this one.

Value: $250-300

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1961 Topps Willie Mays MVP (#482)

It’s amazing that Mays could hit anything with that little toothpick he’s holding on this card, but dude was the National League MVP in 1954.

Not only that, he did it in team-anonymous fashion, sporting a “Giants” cap with no identifier at all. A couple of possible explanations?

Topps could have just used an old photo showing Mays in the NY cap the Giants used before they moved west.

Or … could Topps have picked up on some sort of under-the-breath trade rumors and decided to go franchise agnostic for this one? Sounds absurd, sure, but so does “Washington Nat’l League.”

Value: $250-300

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1961 Topps Hank Aaron All-Star (#577)

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It’s tough for other guys to find breathing room when a set is stacked with multiple cards of multiple super duper stars.

So, it’s no surprise that another Aaron makes the cut here, with this hatless All-Star card.

Value: $225-275

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1961 Topps Sandy Koufax (#344)

Koufax put together his first All-Star season in 1961 before turning on the jets that would propel him to the Hall of Fame with a handful of unbelievable seasons through 1966.

As Koufax’s star was ascending, collectors were pulling this sunny 1961 Topps card from wax packs, and the spell was cast.

Value: $250-350

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1961 Topps Billy Williams Rookie Card (#141)

Even after Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987, this rookie card of his didn’t rocket to the top of the 1961 Topps hierarchy. That’s no knock on the Cubs legend, though — this is a tough era for anyone not named Mantle, Mays, Aaron, or Clemente to stand out.

Williams and his RC have maintained a strong core of loyal collectors over the years, though, and this beauty finally pushed into the upper echelon during the pandemic.

Value: $175-200

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1961 Topps Babe Ruth Hits 60th Homer (#401)

As if Maris and Mantle didn’t have to deal with the shadow of Ruth enough on the field during 1961, there he was popping out of wax packs, too.

But Topps sure looked prescient with this one, huh? Rolling out a 60-homer celebration just in time for Maris’ hair-thinning dash to the finish line was nothing less than a stroke of cardboard genius.

Value: $175-200

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