1969 Topps: #424 Pete Rose AS

Monday, January 23, 2023

#424 Pete Rose AS - Cincinnati Reds

All-Star cards returned to Topps sets in 1968 under The Sporting News banner for a three-year run between 1968 and 1970. Topps included 20 All-Star cards in its 1969 set, featuring 10 All-Stars from each league and one player from each position, including both a right-handed and left-handed pitcher.

Building the Set / Card #15
May 3, 2022 from Wenonah, NJ (Gar Miller Cards)

Growing up in South Jersey, I'd look forward to the Ocean City Baseball Card show every summer, saving my precious birthday or gas mowing money so that I could spend it all during one glorious afternoon inside the Ocean City Music Pier among dozens of tables of vintage baseball cards. When my wife Jenna texted me that there was a baseball card show scheduled in Ocean City this past April 30th, I admittedly got giddy. We needed 11 cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, I had plans to begin collecting a 1969 Topps set, and I figured I'd add a Diamond Stars card or two to that growing set. We loaded the family in the car, trekked down to Ocean City, and I stepped inside the Music Pier for the first time in over 20 years.

The memories came flooding back, but none of the former baseball card dealers from my youth did. There were maybe 15 tables scattered on the lower portion of the Music Pier floor and I immediately scanned mostly shiny slabbed cards, bobble heads, signed jerseys, and nary a vintage baseball card in sight. It was a little depressing. Determined to come away with something, anything for my collection, I scoured a "3 for $20" box and came away with a few cards for Doug's collection, namely Alec Bohm relic cards, and six cards from sets I wasn't even collecting yet.

1965 Topps #134

All of this is meant as a prelude to how this card ended up in my collection. My budgeted show money burning a hole in my pocket, I navigated over to Gar Miller Cards' online store when we got home and held my own virtual baseball card show. I added four cards to our Diamond Cards set, crossed off three more cards for our 1965 Topps set and threw in a few cool cards to add to the 1969 Topps pile I had started, including this Pete Rose (#120) All-Star card.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Carl Yastrzemski Puzzle

Rose is one of three outfielders from the National League All-Stars subset, along with Cardinals' teammates Lou Brock (#85) and Curt Flood (#540). Of the three, only Flood actually started in left field for the 1968 National League All-Stars, with neither Brock or Rose getting a starting nod in the 1968 or 1969 games. In the 1969 game, Rose replaced starter Cleon Jones (#512) in left field in the bottom of the eighth. He'd catch a pair of fly balls that inning and come to bat against Ray Culp (#391) in the top of the ninth, popping up in foul territory to third baseman Brooks Robinson (#550).

The stock photo used in the background behind Rose is a picture of Mickey Mantle (#500) from a 1965 Topps World Series subset card, highlighting Game 3 of the 1964 World Series. The backs of these All-Star cards contain a puzzle piece of either Rose or American League All-Star Carl Yastrzemski (#130). Oddly enough, the back of Rose's card doesn't feature a piece of the Rose puzzle, but rather the bottom of Yaz's elbow.

Topps All-Star Card Appearances (9): 1969-1970, 1974-1977, 1979, 1982-1983