A piece of cardboard you’ve probably never heard of featuring the Say Hey Kid just changed hands for a lot of money.
The 1961 Willie Mays baseball card from the ultra-obscure Topps Dice Game set hammered for $156,000 at a Huggins & Scott auction in December. This established a new public auction record for that particular piece of cardboard history.
According to Cllct’s Will Stern, it’s the highest price ever in a public sale for the Mays Dice Game card.
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Record-Breaking Sale Details for the 1961 Willie Mays Baseball Card
The winning bid of $156,000 is a significant milestone for this peculiar release. The card earned a PSA 5 grade, and while that’s far from perfect, it’s a respectable grade given the card’s age, rarity, and all the circumstances surrounding it. That price point tells us everything we need to know about how serious collectors are about acquiring test issues that never saw standard distribution.
Stern noted that the previous record was an SGC 4.5 example that fetched $127,402 in April 2021. That’s an increase of about 22%, which shows that interest in these experimental Topps releases is only accelerating. The lone PSA 6 copy sold for just $30,995 in 2014, giving us a glimpse at how the market has changed for obscure vintage cardboard.
What Makes the Topps Dice Game Set So Incredibly Scarce
The 1961 Topps Dice Game wasn’t actually released to the public. This was a test issue that didn’t gain traction internally at Topps, and the 18-card set never made it to the shelves. There’s no copyright information and no trademark details. There’s legit nothing indicating that these cards were ready to be seen by the masses.
Between PSA and SGC, only 35 total cards from the entire set (which features just 18 players) have been professionally graded. For the Mays specifically, PSA has graded just four copies.
The consensus among experts is that a handful of cards somehow escaped the Topps factory, though the exact circumstances are unknown. PSA notes that without any Topps markings, it’s unclear whether these were still in development when they entered the wild.
Other Notable Sales For This Rare Cardboard
The Topps Dice Game set features an impressive roster of baseball legends from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mickey Mantle naturally commands the highest prices, with a PSA 1 copy selling for $396,000 in July 2022 at Heritage Auctions.
Frank Robinson is another heavy hitter from the release, with his top sale reaching $143,748 in April 2021. The set includes other All-Stars selected between 1959 and 1962. Three previously unknown cards featuring Dick Groat, Norm Siebern, and Bill White were also discovered during a 2019 Mile High Auction.
The Uncut Sheet Discovery and This Release’s Legacy
Earlier in 2025, an uncut sheet featuring all 18 cards from the Topps Dice Game set sold for $252,000. The sheet measures 18×14 inches and includes game charts on the reverse side, which gives us a better picture of Topps’ original vision.
The uncut sheet revealed something that challenges the commonly accepted 1961 dating, though. Groat appears wearing a Pirates uniform, but with St. Louis insignia airbrushed onto his cap. Since Groat wasn’t traded from Pittsburgh to St. Louis until November 1962, the set might actually be from 1963 or later.
The Topps Dice Game set is legendary among veteran collectors, specifically because of its scarcity and unknown origins. The fact that an uncut sheet sold for $252,000 (more than any individual card except the Mantle) shows people not only value the actual cards, but also the things that can clue us into the details of what this was originally envisioned to be.
For Willie Mays collectors, this $156,000 sale positions the Dice Game card as one of the most valuable Mays issues outside of his recognized rookie cards and key mainstream releases.
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