#2 1968 N.L. Batting Leaders - Pete Rose / Matty Alou / Felipe Alou

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.

Building the Set / Card #27
September 15, 2022 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)

This card was part of a larger stress-induced purchase from Kit Young Cards in mid-September.  The stress was all work related, and while some people choose to relieve stress through less productive means, I opted to purchase several vintage baseball cards.  The centerpiece of the haul was the 1965 Topps Yaz card, which dropped the number of cards needed for that complete set down to five.  Joining Yaz were Diamond Stars cards of Joe Stripp and Lloyd Waner, along with this League Leaders card.  I've long been a fan of purchasing cards from Kit Young, and I took advantage of a mid-fall sale to add to three different set builds.  The League Leaders card was the least expensive of the quartet at a little less than $8.

September 2022 was a blur.  I travelled for work the better part of two weeks, school started, the boys' fall sports schedules (cross country and baseball) were non-stop and there was little to no time to rest or to enjoy baseball card purchases.  Taking a mental health day in early October, I was happy to have the time to catch my breath and truly appreciate the new baseball cards that helped get me through that month.  I composed posts for the Yaz and Diamond Stars cards then, and the it only took me until early January to finally compose a post for this League Leaders card.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Pirates Team Set / Braves Team Set

1968 was the first of three years in which Pete Rose (#120) won the National League batting title, as he'd repeat in 1969 and win a third time in his MVP year of 1973.  His .335 average was enough to top the .332 average of the Pirates' Matty Alou (#490).  On September 27th, Rose's average sat at .330, but he'd go 6 for 8 in the final two games of the season to bump him into the top spot, including a 5 for 5 performance on September 28th.  Matty Alou had been at .329 on September 27th, and he'd go 4 for 4 on September 28th to raise him to .334, but then 0 for 4 on September 29th.  Matty Alou had previously won the batting title in 1966 with a .342 mark.

Older brother Felipe Alou (#300) rounds out the top trio with a .317 average, and younger brother Jesus Alou (#22) makes an appearance on the back of the card with his .263 average for the year.

#1 1968 A.L. Batting Leaders / #3 1968 A.L. RBI Leaders