TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION
1968
T he sharp looking cards of 1967 were followed by a set that featured burlap- themed graphics, an odd decision to be sure. The set size was also back down to 598 cards as Topps struggled with an absolute player’s union boycott that made it impossible to take updated photographs from the start of spring training until the last pitch of the World Series. To make up for the lack of new images, Topps reintroduced All-Star cards and used a lot of capless and airbrushed photos. A notable key in 1968 is the Nolan Ryan rookie card. The high numbers were also markedly easier to find than those from the previous two years. Save for yet another waxy strip advertising or two, a playing card style game was the year’s lone insert, its 33 cards - also marketed as a separate, boxed release called Batter-Up - continued the trajectory of baseball game play from Topps. As with 1967, a number of secondary and test issues were created as Topps stretched their baseball portfolio to the limit. Very large Baseball Player Posters, folded several times to fit in wax packs that were also taller than normal, saw their own release, as did a fun series of Action All-Star Stickers, with a number of Hall-of-Famers featured among the players on these long strips. To top it off, they issued what may be the most popular Topps test set in the hobby, 3-D Baseball. These flickering cards were sold with a small easel insert so you could proudly display each one. The 3-D set suffered from quality control issues and a likely dumping of excess cards was sold via select “friends of the company” but did little to dampen enthusiasm today for these cards then or now. The set is highlighted by the inclusion of Roberto Clemente and several variations among its dozen cards. Some 3-D’s can also be found as scarcer prototypes or proofs, often with stamped markings on the reverse. Also to be hunted down is another All-Star series of proof Discs as Topps continued to toy with a baseball button set but never followed through. Topps still wasn’t done as they tested a large series of 24 Giant Stand-Ups, made of thick cardboard that are almost impossibly rare today; these are also found as equally rare proofs. They also reprinted 77 cards with bright yellow backs (versus the more sedate goldenrod used to back the regular issue) for a strange Milton Bradley game called Win-A-Card. These were drawn from the first two series and quite haphazardly chosen, with the Nolan Ryan rookie a distinct highlight of this odd pairing. Two well-known and scarce variations of the Ed Brinkman and Casey Cox cards, with their team names in yellow and not white came with the game only; an unrelated variation in the regular set that reverses the problem on Mike McCormick’s card and has white as the difficult team color.
414. 1968 Topps Unopened Five-Cent Wax Pack - GAI NM 7 MINIMUM BID: $750
415. 1968 A&BC/ Topps Tattoo Sheet Pair w/Babe Ruth (HOF) MINIMUM BID: $25
416. 1968 Topps Print Variations Collection (39) MINIMUM BID: $50
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