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Beginning in 1961, Topps started including league leader cards in its sets and there are 12 league leaders cards kicking off the 1969 Topps set. League leader cards can be found at the beginning of each Topps set issued in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969.
December 3, 2022 from The Philly Show (Huggins & Scott Auctions)
At the outset of The Philly Show, more formally known as the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, we needed just four cards to complete our 1965 Topps set. I wrote a full summary of the show in this post over at The Phillies Room.
The show so far had been an all-timer. Major purchases were made (1965 and 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle, 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card, Diamond Stars Rogers Hornsby), our 1965 Topps set was completed and I admittedly wasn't ready to leave just yet. With a little more cash in hand, I decided to find a few more cards for our now newly-collecting 1969 Topps set.
I found a box of vintage semi-star cards at the table of Higgins & Scott Auctions from Silver Spring, Maryland, with a "50% Off" sign attached to it. It was truly a hodge podge of minor stars, checklists, multi-player Rookie Stars cards and other assorted randomness. After confirming the cards were indeed 50% off the sticker prices, I found eight interesting cards needed for our set and parted with my final $50 of the day. This League Leaders card, the first card of the set, was $7.50.
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Carl Yastrzemski (#130) won his third and final batting title in 1968 with a .301 mark, adding to the titles he had previously won in 1963 and his Triple Crown year of 1967. That's a low mark for a batting title, but 1968 has become universally known as the Year of the Pitcher. Danny Cater (#44) makes a somewhat surprising appearance here, as his .290 average was good enough for the runner-up spot behind Yastrzemski. Cater had joined the Athletics via a trade with the White Sox on May 27, 1966, and he's still shown wearing a White Sox uniform and hat here. His base cards from the 1968 and 1969 Topps sets show him hatless, but at least wearing the green vested uniform of the Kansas City Athletics. Cater would bat .301 in 1970, which was only good enough for 10th place in the batting race that season.
Finally, Tony Oliva (#600) and his .289 mark resulted in a third place finish. Oliva would win three batting titles in his career, in 1964, 1965 and 1971. For the record, the Orioles' Paul Blair (#506) and his .211 average wasn't the worst in the league in 1968. His teammates Mark Belanger (#299) and Curt Blefary (#458) had worse marks with .208 and .200, respectively. The Tigers' Don Wert (#443) had a .200 average and the Yankees' Tom Tresh (#212) rounds out the official list with a sub-Mendoza line average of .195 for the year.
I wanted to take a quick look back at the #1 card of each Topps flagship set released in the 1960s.
1960 Topps #1 Early Wynn - Chicago White Sox (1959 A.L. Cy Young)
1961 Topps #1 Dick Groat - Pittsburgh Pirates (1960 N.L. MVP)
1962 Topps #1 Roger Maris - New York Yankeees (1961 A.L. MVP)
1963 Topps #1 1962 N.L. Batting Leaders - T. Davis, F. Robinson, Musial, B. White, Aaron
1964 Topps #1 1963 N.L. ERA Leaders - Koufax, Ellsworth, Friend
1965 Topps #1 1964 A.L. Batting Leaders - Oliva, B. Robinson, E. Howard
1966 Topps #1 Willie Mays - San Francisco Giants (1965 N.L. MVP)
1967 Topps #1 The Champs - F. Robinson, Bauer, B. Robinson
1968 Topps #1 1967 N.L. Batting Leaders - Clemente, Gonzalez, M. Alou
1969 Topps #1 1968 A.L. Batting Leaders - Yastrzemski, Cater, Olivia
It's interesting to me that when Topps decided to open its set with League Leaders cards in 1960s, there was no set formula. It was a different category or different league each time.
I find the '69 league leader cards pretty boring, even with all the stars on them.
ReplyDeleteYep, me too. The entire set is devoid of any cool subsets. Especially when compared to what came before and what would come in a few years in Topps flagship sets.
ReplyDelete