Somehow, I came across a 1968 Nate Oliver when I was in 5th grade, shortly after I began collecting. It was beat all to heck and while I recall getting it, I have no memory of what happened to it. It was certainly lost within a year or less and I didn't acquire any more '68s for some years. I finally set out to build the set in the mid-90s and one of my first stops was Bill Huggins' House of Cards in Wheaton, MD. They had a monster box filled with '68s all individually encased in penny sleeves. They were selling them on consignment, priced at 1/2 Beckett, and they were all in near-mint condition. I must have picked up a couple hundred that day. A short time later, I plunked down about $200 for a really nice EXMT+ Ryan rookie at a card show at Columbia Mall in Columbia, MD (before they re-did the mall and it became too upscale for such things). I added more cards gradually, until finally completing the set in the early '00s by purchasing a Hank Aaron All Star on eBay, likely my first ever eBay transaction.
The 1968 set features one of the oddest (many would say worst) design choices Topps ever made - if they were going for the burlap sack look, they nailed it. Beyond that questionable choice, Topps airbrushed all the Oakland caps to hide the "KC" logo (the A's played their first season in Oakland in 1968) and because of legal issues with Astros owner Roy Hofheinz, all Astros cards are designated as simply "Houston" on card fronts, all cap logos are airbrushed out, and all uniforms are of the "Houston" away variety. All in all, especially following the beautiful 1967 set, 1968 has to be considered something of a disappointment.
Getting beyond the burlap, players' names are featured below the lower left of the image - first names in a smaller black font and last names in a larger red one. The team name and position are enclosed in a colored circle in the bottom right corner of the image. The burlap pattern, as will be seen below, begins in the 1st series quite pronounced, and in later series much finer, occasionally at first glance simply like a solid tan background.
Card backs are vertically oriented and are black and white on gold. The backs are actually quite nice and clear. Space permitting, they feature an illustrated trivia question having to do with the featured player's team.
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Some series 2 packs contained ads for the upcoming playing cards in series 3.
Wax packs contained 5 cards (plus a stick of gum) and sold for 5 cents each. Boxes contained 24 packs, and cases held 24 boxes.
Wax wrappers came in two basic designs - one 'plain', another advertising baseball playing card inserts. These inserts were available beginning in series 3.
Plain wrappers are known to have come with one of 4 different advertisements - a camera for 250 Bazooka comics, or 50 cents and 10 comics; a chemical magic set for 300 comics, or 60 cents and 10 comics; a ball/strike counter for 175 comics or 35 cents and 5 comics, and baseball sunglasses for 500 comics or $1 and 20 comics. The latter also offered an address to write to to potentially acquire baseball equipment for youth teams.
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Playing card wrappers seem to only have been issued with card game instructions on the side panel.
Wax boxes, like packs, came in both a plain and a playing card insert variety.
Cases may also have come in the two varieties. The 401 code on this sample corresponds to codes on the plain box and plain wrapper. Perhaps another version exists which held the playing card boxes and packs.
The playing card set consisted of 33 cards with rounded corners, slightly smaller in size than the regular cards. Each featured a popular player and a 'play' which would help determine the course of the game. Complete boxed sets were available in stores at some point in 1968. In addition to the 10 cent variety shown below, it is believed some carried a higher 15 cent price.
In all probability, grocery packs consisting of 6 wax packs overwrapped in plastic against a cardboard backer were issued in 1968, but no imagery is presently available.
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Cello packs contained 12 cards and sold for 10 cents each. They were wrapped in plain cellophane and were packed 36 per box. As with wax packs, latter series cellos contained a playing card.
Rack packs contained 36 cards and sold for 29 cents. As in most years, racks from higher series would sometimes contain cards from more than one series.
Although the header card refers to "3/10 cent packs", the cards were, as in later years, loosely packed in three different cells. The header carries a 1967 code, at which time racks did contain individual cello packs.
500-card vending boxes were available as usual, but imagery is currently unavailable.
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The 1968 set contains 598 cards split across 7 series. It contains 485 basic player cards and a variety of specialty subsets.
Included among the 485 basic player cards are 11 players from the 1968 Topps All Star Rookie team (there was a tie at the RHP position). Each is designated by a small gold trophy on their card.
For whatever reason, Topps failed to mark the Monday, Hughes and Nye cards with a trophy.
487 - Lee May, Reds 1B
80 - Rod Carew, Twins 2B
209 - Tim Cullen, Senators SS
126 - Bobby Etheridge, Giants 3B
61 - Reggie Smith, Red Sox OF
172 - Walt Williams, White Sox OF
282 - Rick Monday, A's OF 104 - Dick Dietz, Giants C
45 - Tom Seaver, Mets RHP
253 - Dick Hughes, Cardinals RHP
339 - Rich Nye, Cubs 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. These 44 over-printed cards are:
51 - Bob Locker
12 - A.L. Strikeout Leaders
47 - Ralph Houk
84 - Bob Tolan
15 - Ron Hunt
32 - Joe Gibbon
91 - Jim Ollum
14 - Jerry McNertney
1 - N.L. Batting Leaders
71 - Vern Fuller
42 - Larry Haney
64 - Jim Merritt
45 - Tom Seaver
26 - Darrell Brandon
44 - Frank Kostro
108 - Don Pavletich
8 - A.L. ERA Leaders
53 - Gene Alley
61 - Reggie Smith
60 - Ken Holtzman
98 - Gary Sutherland
19 - Juan Pizzaro
3 - N.L. RBI Leaders
56 - Orioles Rookie Stars
79 - Ted Kubiak
90 - Vada Pinson
46 - Dave Ricketts
93 - Tony Cloninger
28 - Ted Uhlaender
4 - A.L. RBI Leaders
23 - Chico Cardenas
59 - Don Lock
103 - Don Sutton
99 - Rocky Colavito
68 - Ron Willis
24 - Bobby Locke
72 - Tommy John
89 - Jake Gibbs
57 - Dan Schneider
49- Ed Brinkman
34 - Al Ferrara
85 - Gaylord Perry
38 - Tony Pierce
7 - N.L. ERA Leaders
Of the 109 unique cards in series 1, 87 are basic player cards (including the Seaver, Smith, Carew and Dietz Rookie All Stars, above), and the remaining 24 belong to one of several subsets.
Cards 1-12 depict the top three performers from each league in six statistical categories - HR, RBI, Batting Average, ERA, Strikeouts and Pitching (a.k.a. Victories) - from 1967. Card backs list the top 50 in each category, with the exception of the HR leader cards which shorten that list to be able to include all the players who hit grand slams in 1967.
A.L. cards (even numbers) feature a red circle on the front, while N.L. cars (odd numbers) have a blue circle.
Series 1 contains three manager cards including Gil Hodges/Mets, Ralph Houk/Yankees and Dick Williams/Red 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 of the Indians, Pirates, Orioles, Braves and Senators.
Series 1 includes the checklist cards for both Series 1 and Series 2.
Card 10, A.L. Pitching Leaders, can be found with Jim Lonborg's name on the back printed correctly, and misspelled "LonbErg".
The second series checklist that was printed with series 1 has the wide mesh pattern associated with that series, while the version printed with the series 2 has that series' finer mesh pattern.
The series 1 checklist can be found with 2 different alignments of the copyright line.
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. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 2 checklist, a series 1 card), 68 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookies Etheridge and Williams) and 19 belong to various subsets.
Cards 151-158 document the 1967 World Series. There is one card for each of the 7 games and a summary/celebration card. Card backs feature offensive stats from the subject game and the summary card features the Series composite pitching and batting stats for both the Cardinals and Red Sox.
For reasons unknown, the 1968 set includes only 13 team photo cards - seven clubs (Astros, Cubs, Giants, Indians, Red Sox, Senators and Yankees) are not represented. A.L. team photos have a red circle on the front and N.L. team photos have a blue circle.
Series 2 has two - the Twins and the Dodgers. Card backs contain the club's 1967 player stats.
Series 2 includes three manager cards - Gene Mauch/Phillies, Dave Bristol/Reds and Bob Kennedy/A's.
Series 2 features five 2-player Rookie Stars cards. Included are the Tigers, White Sox, Astros, Cardinals and Mets.
Series 2 includes the 3rd series checklist, which would also be printed as part of the 3rd series. The reverse includes an advertisement for the playing card inserts.
The series 3 checklist is available in four distinct varieties.
The portrait of Yaz can be found positioned further to the left in the circle, showing a line on the right lower arc, and the playing card game ad can be found worded "Special Baseball Playing Card" and "Special Baseball Playing Card Game".
So, there is a Yaz with a line and "Game", a Yaz with a line and no "Game", a Yaz with no line and "Game", and a Yaz with no line and no "Game.
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 the actual B slide slit, and on the right is a reconstruction of the A side slit based upon the card patterns on the first. With 87 unique cards (not counting a reprint of the series 3 checklist, a series 2 card), 76 are basic player cards (including All Star Rookie Cullen) and 11 belong to various subsets.
Three manager cards are included in series 3 - Cal Ermer/Twins, Alvin Dark/Indians and Herman Franks/Giants.
Series 3 features team photo cards of the Braves and the Angels.
Series 3 has five 2-player Rookie Stars cards featuring the A's, Yankees, Dodgers, Reds and Cubs.
Series 3 includes the first printing of the 4th series checklist.
A variation of the 4th series checklist exists on which the copyright line on the reverse is further to the left.
Series 4: 284-370
Series 4 follows the same pattern as series 2 and series 3 - it contains 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 4 checklist, a series 3 card), 66 are basic player cards and 21 that belong to various subsets.
Cards 361-370 feature the first half of the Sporting News All Stars series. Depicted are 10 players (1B, 2B, 3B, SS and OF, 1 from each league). The players selected for inclusion were not necessarily members of either of the 1967 All Star Game squads.
A.L. cards feature a red Sporting News banner while on N.L. cards it is blue. Card backs are puzzle pieces to an image of 1967 A.L. MVP Carl Yastrzemski.
Series 4 features team photo cards of the Pirates and Orioles.
Series 4 contains 3 manager cards - Red Schoendienst/Cardinals, Leo Durocher/Cubs and Jim Lemon/Senators.
Series 4 includes five 2-player Rookie Stars cards - White Sox, Twins, Red Sox, Angels and Phillies.
Series 4 contains the 5th series checklist, which can be found with Ken Holtzman's head offset slightly to the right in the inset circle (4th series sheet), or more or less centered in it (5th series sheet).
Series 5: 371-457
Series 5 A Slit Image Needed
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 and 20 belong to various subsets. Despite having a (poor) image of only one series 5 slit, we can deduce that the remaining slit features this one's middle four rows at the top and bottom, and this one's top and bottom four rows in the middle.
Cards 371-380 continue and conclude the Sporting News All Stars series which began in series 4. Depicted are 10 players (OF, OF, C, RHP and LHP, 1 from each league). Like their series 4 counterparts, these are players who did not necessarily actually play for either 1967 All Star team.
Again, A.L. cards feature a red Sporting News banner, and N.L. cards feature a blue one. Card backs can be arranged to form an image of 1967 N.L. MVP Orlando Cepeda.
Series 5 includes team photo cards of the Mets and White Sox.
Series 5 includes three manager cards - Grady Hatton/Astros, Bill Rigney/Angels and Lum Harris/Braves.
Series 5 includes four 2-player Rookie Stars cards representing the Reds, Orioles, Indians and Tigers.
The series 6 checklist can be found with Frank Robinson's head and cap fully or mostly contained in the inset circle.
Card 400, Mike McCormick, can be found in a very rare version with the word "Giants" on the front printed in white rather than the proper yellow.
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 each with 5 duplicate rows each. The result is that 33 cards are printed in 1/3 greater quantity than the remaining 44. Of the series' 76 unique cards, 67 (including the May Rookie All Star) are basic player cards, and the remaining 9 belong to a subset. The over-printed cards from series 6 are:
488 - Dick Tracewski
497 - Cardinals Team Photo
463 - Jimmie Schaffer
460 - Jim Lonborg
532 - Luis Tiant
511 - Bill Kelso
521 - Don Shaw
458 - Lew Krausse
513 - Hank Bauer
459 - Dick Simpson
485 - Ken Berry
519 - Jerry Stephenson
475 - Joe Niekro
472 - Walt Alston
507 - Wade Blasingame
474 - Paul Schaal
496 - Steve Hamilton
461 - Chuck Hiller
492 - Jeff Torborg
489 - Wally Bunker
481 - John Wyatt
470 - Bill Freehan
500 - Frank Robinson
520 - Lou Brock
512 - Grant Jackson
515 - Russ Nixon
525 - Jim Davenport
508 - Duke Sims
516 - Pete Mikkelsen
484 - Phil Roof
499 - Steve Blass
493 - Jim McGlothlin
482 - Jose Pagan
Series 6 contains 3 star combo cards. Card backs offer narrative accounts of the subjects on the front.
2 manager cards appear in series 6 - Walt Alston/Dodgers and Hank Bauer/Orioles.
Series 6 includes three team photo cards - Phillies, Cardinals and Tigers.
The series 7 checklist can be found with card 539 listed correctly as "Maj.L.Rookies" and incorrectly as "Amer.L.Rookies".
Series 7: 534-598
Series 7 A Slit Image Needed
Series 7 was one of the shortest series Topps had produced - 66 cards, with 65 unique because of the inclusion of the 7th series checklist, a 6th series card. Based upon the above image of one of the slits, it is almost certain the remaining slit is identical in appearance, with exactly the same arrangement of rows. Because of the series' size and printing arrangement, no over- or short-prints exist. Each card appears twice on each slit. Of the series' 65 unique cards, 54 are basic player cards and the remaining 11 belong to a subset. After consecutive years of hard-to-find 7th series, in 1968 increased production and/or better distribution resulted in a final series which is almost as common as any other in the set.
Series 7 includes three manager cards - Mayo Smith/Tigers, Eddie Stanky/White Sox and Larry Shepard/Pirates.
Series 7 contains two team photo cards - the A's and the Reds.
As was common with high-numbers series of the era, series 7 offers an eclectic variety of Rookie Stars cards - there are three 2-player cards representing specific teams (Orioles, Pirates and Twins), two 2-player cards including players from the National League with a mix of teams, and one simply designated as Major League Rookie Stars with players from each league.
Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (177) and Johnny Bench (247) make their debut in 1968, as do Jerry Koosman (177) and Hal McRae (384).
Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews (58) makes his final appearance in 1968, as do John Roseboro (65), Rocky Colavito (99), Elston Howard (167) and Roger Maris (330).
The assembled puzzles of Yaz and Cepeda.
Is it just me, or does Dick Tracewski's (488) head look too big for his body in this image? Blown up, I'd swear I can see a cut line from his lower jaw through his neck. I have no idea why Topps would do any chopping because they must've had dozens of Tracewski images in their files to chose from by 1967, but something tells me the guy who did this might also be responsible for this:
