TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION 1969
F inally reaching agreement with the players union in late 1968, Topps was able to start taking pictures again in Spring Training, and just in time. Another round of major league expansion, including the first Canada-based team, led to another mad scramble and Topps responded admirably with a 664-card set, a new record length and once more loaded with capless headshots and scads of airbrushing. A pleasing and clean design was deployed, although some errors crept in, including several fifth series cards with the player’s last names flipping between very difficult white and far more common yellow variants; this includes the final Topps card of Mickey Mantle, who retired in March. 1969’s high numbers are the easiest to track down of any since 1958, as Topps kept a steady supply of cards rolling out all year long. Two different pack inserts were made available, a 33- card series of black-and-white Deckles and far more colorful series of 48 Decals, which were miniaturized versions of the regular cards. For the final time, waxy ad strips were also found in some packs. Topps had to pay out more to the players and their union under the new compensation agreement and took the opportunity to issue four supplemental sets. The most common of these was a long series of Baseball Stamps, packed as small sheets with a flimsy paper album, one for each team, and a neat way for customers to become acquainted with player movement and new franchises thanks to their flagship product. Three secondary sets are notably tougher than the Baseball Stamps. A series of Mini-Stickers offering four small subjects over each of its twenty-five cards that mimicked the Decal inserts and are difficult to find today. Twenty-four large Baseball Team Posters were also sold and remain popular items, with several folds and a generally fragile nature making these impressive items challenging in any kind of nice shape today. A series of Super Baseball cards, 66 in number and so named to highlight their superb photography, was the final bonus set for the year. A half-decade later, a devastating fire at Card Collectors Company, owned by longtime Topps Creative Director Woody Gelman, markedly reduced the availability of these popular cards. Finally, a tribute card of Bowie Kuhn specially prepared by Topps for a banquet honoring the Baseball Commissioner is commonly attributed to 1969 but appears to have been issued in January of 1971.
463. 1969 Topps Unopened Five- Cent Wax Pack - PSA NM-MT 8 MINIMUM BID: $1,000
464. 1969 Topps Print Variations Collection (59) MINIMUM BID: $100
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