I don't remember what the first 1967 card I had was or how I came to acquire it, but it may have been Larry Dierker or Don Drysdale, and I may have come by it from a friend who had an older brother or something like that. Regardless, I never had more than a dozen or two at any time until I finally set about to build the set in the mid-00s. This was the first older set I constructed largely through eBay purchases, and this was back in a time before Paypal had caught on, when images still didn't accompany 100% of all listings, and when a seller could still require payment by money order or cashiers check - I had to use the latter form of payment, I think, to buy the Mark Belanger rookie in the high-number series. I know I bought a number live and in person at Bill Huggins' House of Cards in Wheaton, MD. I'm pretty sure the Mays/McCovey Fence Busters card was the last card I needed.
The 1967 set is a beauty - even considered by some to be the nicest looking of any vintage Topps set. It has it all - a fantastic design, great images, loads of Hall of Famers, top rate rookie cards and a super tough high-number series.
The design of the set is beautiful in its simplicity. The image takes up nearly all of the card front. The player's name and position appear near the very top in some mix of white, black or yellow type. The team name is located along the bottom border in large, colorful block letters.
Backs are vertically oriented and are printed in white and black against a green background. Two small cartoons illustrating facts about the player appear in the upper half of the card between the biographical text and his vital statistics.
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Some series 2 packs contained ads for the upcoming pin-ups in series 3.
Wax packs contained 5 cards (plus a stick of gum) and sold for 5 cents each. Boxes contained 24 packs.
Wax wrappers came in two basic designs - one 'plain', another advertising all star pin-ups, which were available beginning in series 3.
Available side panel ads in 1967 included baseball sunglasses for 500 Bazooka comics or $1 and 20 comics (also with an opportunity to acquire baseball equipment for youth teams), a camera for 250 comics or 50 cents and 10 comics, a ball/strike counter for 175 comics or 35 cents and 5 comics, and a magic magnet set for 125 comics or 25 cents and 5 comics. Each wrapper type is known with each side panel ad.
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Wax boxes, like wrappers, came in both a plain and a pin-up insert variety.
The pin-ups were actually posters printed on news-print type paper. Blank-backed, there were 32 in all and were folded in half twice to be inserted in to wax and cello packs.
In all probability, grocery packs consisting of 6 wax packs, overwrapped in plastic against a cardboard backer, were issued in 1967, but no imagery is presently available.
Cello packs contained 12 cards and sold for 10 cents each. They were wrapped in plain cellophane and were packed 48 per box. As with wax packs, mid- and latter-series cellos contained a pin-up as in the sample here.
Rack packs contained three 12-card cellos overwrapped in plastic and secured by a cardboard header. They sold for 29 cents.
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500-card vending boxes were available as usual, packed 24 per case.
The 1967 set contains 609 cards issued across 7 series. It contains 490 basic player cards and a variety of specialty subsets.
Included among the 490 basic player cards are 10 players from the 1966 Topps All Star Rookie team. Each is designated by a small gold trophy on their card.
75 - George Scott, Red Sox 1B
363 - Dave Johnson, Orioles 2B
415 - Sonny Jackson, Astros SS
505 - Tommy Helms, Reds 3B
165 - Cleon Jones, Mets OF
439 - Byron Browne, Cubs OF
455 - Tommie Agee, White Sox OF 106 - Randy Hundley, Cubs C
90 - Jim Nash, A's RHP
221 - Woodie Fryman, Pirates LHP
Series 1: 1-109
Each series was printed on a 264-card full sheet which was divided into 2 individual 'slits' or smaller, 132-card half sheets. In series 1, each slit contains 10 different rows of 11 cards for a total of 110 cards, but because the series 1 checklist is appears in 2 rows, the series contains 109 unique cards. Each slit also features 2 rows, 22 cards, printed twice. This produced a total of 44 cards printed in 50% greater quantities than the rest. The image above on the left is an actual photo of one of the series 1 slits. The image on the right is a reconstruction of the second based upon card counts and miscuts. The 44 over-printed sereis 1 cards are:
29 - Tom McCraw
5 - Whitey Ford
96 - Art Shamsky
109 - Tribe Thumpers
59 - Ralph Terry
89 - Felix Millan
15 - Earl Battey
66 - Manny Mota
22 - Gene Brabender
44 - Joe Nuxhall
27 - Bob Saverine
38 - Bob Johnson
88 - Mickey Lolich
47 - Ken McMullen
31 - Jim Brewer
9 - Ron Hansen
25 - Elston Howard
94 - Ron Fairly
93 - Yankees Rookie Stars
39 - Curt Simmons
78 - Pat Corrales
7 - Don McMahon
1 - The Champs
76 - Jim Barbieri
18 - Gene Oliver
81 - Eddie Stanky
77 - Dooley Womack
58 - Paul Schaal
87 - George Altman
11 - Barry Moore
65 - Tom Haller
75 - George Scott
100 - Frank Robinson
95 - Sonny Siebert
5 - Whitey Ford
96 - Art Shamsky
109 - Tribe Thumpers
59 - Ralph Terry
89 - Felix Millan
15 - Earl Battey
66 - Manny Mota
22 - Gene Brabender
44 - Joe Nuxhall
27 - Bob Saverine
Of the 109 unique cards in series 1, 95 are basic player cards (including the Scott, Nash and Hundley All Star Rookies, above), and the remaining 9 belong to one of several subsets.
Series 1 contains two team photo cards - the Mets and Phillies. Card backs display the club's 1966 hitting and pitching leaders, and provide a detailed breakdown of each pitcher's record against the other 9 clubs in the league.
Two manager cards appear in series 1 - Dave Bristol/Reds and Eddie Stanky/White Sox.
Card backs feature a narrative account of some the manager's career highlights.
Series 1 includes five 2-player Rookie Stars cards featuring youngsters with little or no MLB experience. Included are cards for the Dodgers, A's, Astros, Tigers and Yankees.
Series 1 features three star combo cards. Backs feature narrative descriptions of their accomplishments.
Series 1 includes the checklist cards for both Series 1 and Series 2.
Beginning in 1967, checklists listed only those cards contained in the named series - gone were the days of giving kids a 'peek' into what the next series held.
The series 1 checklist can be found with the trademark line in two slightly different positions.
Tigers Rookie Stars (72) features an incorrect photo - the image of George Korince actually depicts Tiger prospect James Brown. The card was never corrected, at least not in the usual sense. In series 6, Topps issued a completely new card to fix things up (see below).
Bob Priddy and Mike McCormick can each be found with and without a "traded" line at the bottom of their biographical text - they were traded for each other just after card fronts were set in stone.
Series 2: 110-196
Series 2 contains 88 cards, arranged on printing sheets in 8 rows of 11. Each series 2 slit has all 8 rows plus a repeated block of 4 rows. Together, a full 264 card sheet contains each card exactly 3 times, with no over- or short-prints. The image on the right above is a reconstruction of one of the slits, which is possible because we have the actual image of the other on the left. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 2 checklist, a series 1 card), 71 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookie Jones) while 17 belong to various subsets.
Cards 151-155 document the 1966 World Series. There is one card for each of the 4 games played and a summary/celebration card. Card backs feature offensive stats and a line score from the subject game and the summary card features the Series composite pitching and batting stats for both the Orioles and the Dodgers.
Series 2 contains the Yankees and Cardinals team photo cards.
Series 2 contains two manager cards - Herman Franks/Giants and Dick Williams/Red Sox.
Series 2 features five 2-player Rookie Stars cards. Included are the Pirates, Twins, Senators and Braves.
Series 2 has two star combo cards.
The series 3 checklist is part of series 2, and can be found in an error version listing card 214 as 'Dick' rather than 'Tom' Kelly. Also, on the incorrect version the bust of Willie Mays is missing his neck. .
Series 3: 197-283
Like series 2 before it, series 3 contains 88 cards, arranged on printing sheets in 8 rows of 11. Each series 3 slit has all 8 rows plus a repeated block of 4 rows. Together, a full 264 card sheet contains each card exactly 3 times, with no over- or short-prints. The image on the right above is an actual photo of one of the series 3 slits. The one on the left is a reconstruction of the other, based upon the pattern of cards on the first. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 3 checklist, a series 2 card), 63 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookie Fryman) and 24 belong to various subsets.
Cards 233-244 depict the top 3 performers from each league in six statistical categories - HR, RBI, Batting Average, ERA, Strikeouts and Pitching (a.k.a. Victories) - from 1966. Card backs list the top 50 in each category.
A.L. cards (odd numbers) feature red headline type, while N.L. cards (even numbers) have yellow.
Series 3 features team photo cards of the Twins and A's.
Three manager cards are included in series 3 - Billy Hitchcock/Braves, Gil Hodges/Senators and Gene Mauch/Phillies.
Series 3 has four 2-player Rookie Stars cards featuring the Orioles, Reds, Indians and Cubs.
Series 3 has two star combo cards.
Series 3 features the the series 4 checklist, which can be found in two different versions, one with the check boxes slightly lower relative to the numbers and names (right).
Series 4: 284-370
Series 4 follows the same pattern as the previous series - it contains 88 cards, with each slit having all 8 rows plus a repeated block of 4 rows. A full 264-card sheet contains each card exactly 3 times, with no over- or short-prints. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 4 checklist, a series 3 card), 74 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookie Johnson) and 13 belong to various subsets.
Series 4 features team photo cards of the Orioles, Angels and Cubs.
Series 4 contains 3 manager cards - Walt Alston/Dodgers, Mayo Smith/Tigers and Grady Hatton/Astros.
Series 4 includes five 2-player Rookie Stars cards - Mets, Red Sox, Giants and Angels.
Series 4 contains two star combo cards.
Series 4 contains the 5th series checklist, which can be found in two versions - one with the check boxes slightly lower relative to the numbers and names (right).
Series 5: 371-457
Series 5 continues the pattern of having 88 cards, with each slit having all 8 rows plus a repeated block of 4 rows. Together, a full 264 card sheet contains each card exactly 3 times, with no over- or short-prints. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 5 checklist, a series 4 card), 67 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookies Jackson, Browne and Agee) and 20 belong to various subsets.
Series 5 contains team photo cards of the Tigers, Reds and Senators.
Series 5 includes 3 manager cards - Alvin Dark/A's, Sam Mele/Twins and Harry Walker/Pirates.
Series 5 includes six 2-player Rookie Stars cards representing the White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies, Astros, Dodgers and Yankees.
Series 5 features two star combo cards.
The series 6 checklist can be found with Juan Marichal's left ear present (left) or missing (right).
Bob Bruce exists in a version where the name "BRAVES" is misspelled "RBAVES" on the reverse and in another where the mistake is corrected.
Series 6: 458-533
Series 6 was issued with 77 different cards (76 unique, because the 6th series checklist is a 5th series card). Each slit contains the seven different rows of 11 cards along with 5 duplicate rows. The result is that 33 cards are printed in 1/3 greater quantity than the remaining 44. No known images of complete slits exist, but careful analysis of available miscuts and population counts have enabled the recreation of each series 6 slit with a high degree of confidence (check HERE to see the sausage-making that went into this). This enables us to determine, with some certainty, which 33 cards are over-printed. They are:
521 - Bird Bombers
533 - Jack Fisher
518 - Denis Menke
532 - Jim Hicks
517 - Fred Talbot
525 - Ron Hunt
458 - Lee Thomas
500 - Juan Marichal
523 - Jim Merritt
473 - Jose Santiago
475 - Jim Palmer
479 - Gary Bell
506 - Smoky Burgess
464 - Dan Coombs
494 - Bill Rigney
511 - Don Wert
480 - Willie McCovey
530 - Felipe Alou
503 - Dodgers Team Photo
496 - Orlando McFarlane
499 - Indians Rookie Stars
527 - Dennis Ribant
524 - Felix Mantilla
520 - Max Alvis
519 - Ted Davidson
463 - Hill Aces
487 - Tom Reynolds
483 - Jim Landis
504 - Orlando Martinez
510 - Bill Mazeroski
491 - Sam Bowens
459 - Senators Rookie Stars
465 - Willie Horton
Scarcity caused by limited production and distribution issues began to be felt in 1967 in series 6. Though certainly more available than series 7 cards, those in series 6 can still command a fat premium over those in earlier series. Of the 76 cards, 59 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookie Helms) and the remaining 17 belong to one of several subsets.
Series 6 includes four team photo cards - the Braves, Pirates, Dodgers and Giants. The Braves' (left) is the only one out of all 20 to show a natural background.
Series 6 has four manager cards - Ralph Houk/Yankees, Leo Durocher/Cubs, Bill Rigney/Angels and Red Schoendienst/Cardinals.
Series 6 contains six 2-player rookie stars cards - Senators, Pirates, Twins, Indians, Orioles and Tigers.
Series 6 contains two star combo cards.
Series 6 contains the series 7 checklist.
The series 7 checklist exists in four versions - with Robinson's chin touching the black border and the check boxes almost even with the names and numbers, Robinson's chin touching and check boxes lower, Robinson's chin not touching and the boxes even, and Robinson's chin not touching and the boxes lower.
Remember how series 1 featured a rookie stars card of George Korince that was really James Brown? Well series 6 corrected it by issuing this second Tigers Rookie Stars card featuring an actual image of Korince AND offering an explanation on the reverse.
Tommie Reynolds did not spell his name 'Tommy' - a fact Topps forgot when they laid out his card (487). After the presses started running, their memory improved - they shortened his name to 'Tom', but initial printings still had traces of the 'M' and the 'Y' (above). Later printings removed them.
Series 7: 534-609
Series 7 is one of the scarcest high-number series produced by Topps in the 1960s - due to distribution issues and low print runs, cards are hard to find and can command extreme premiums. The slit illustrated on the right above is based upon an actual image, but was created because of the low quality of the image. The slit on the left is based upon analysis of miscuts, population counts and a partial proof sheet. Of the 7 different rows, five are printed three times each, one is printed four times (making its cards 33% more common than the others) and one is printed 5 times (66% more common). These over-printed cards are:
4x:
547 - Red Sox Rookie Stars
588 - Johnny Klippstein
564 - Astros Rookie Stars
534 - Hank Bauer
562 - Steve Blass
601 - Bill Bryan
539 - Dick Egan
542 - A's Rookie Stars
556 - Al Weis
554 - Andre Rodgers
596 - Galen Cisco
5x:
550 - Vada Pinson
548 - Tony Gonzalez
582 - Jim Owens
608 - Cubs Rookie Stars
566 - Gary Geiger
551 - Doug Camilli
599 - Bob Duliba
537 - Chuck Estrada
559 - Dick Tracewski
589 - Dave Ricketts
569 - A.L. Rookie Stars
Because of the reprint of the series 7 checklist (a series 6 card), series 7 contains 76 unique cards. Of these, 56 are basic player cards and 20 belong to a subset.
Series 7 contains the Indians, White Sox and Red Sox team photo cards.
Series 7 includes 3 manager cards - Hank Bauer/Orioles, Joe Adcock/Indians and Wes Westrum/Mets.
Series 7 features one 2-player rookie stars card for the American League and three for the national.
Series 7 includes ten 2-player Rookie Stars cards for specific teams - the Cubs (2x), A's (2x), Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Astros, Mets and White Sox. The Orioles' card (left) is the only one of 43 total in the set to have a background color other than yellow.
Hall of Famers Rod Carew (569) and Tom Seaver (581) make their first appearances in 1967, as do Sal Bando (33), Reggie Smith (314), Rick Monday (542) and Mark Belanger (558).
Hall of Famer Whitey Ford (5) makes his final appearance in 1967, as do Lou Burdette (265), Smoky Burgess (506) and Jimmy Piersall (584).