#3 1968 A.L. RBI Leaders - Ken Harrelson / Frank Howard / Jim Northrup

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 #78
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

Here we go!  In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the first of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards.  (This card was marked $2.50, but goes down as $2.08 in my tracking schedule.)  If I stick to composing posts five times a week, which may slip through the summer months, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!

The Card / Red Sox Team Set / Senators Team Set / Tigers Team Set

A number of the league leaders cards in the 1969 set lack serious star power, and this card is no exception.  This is the only time Ken Harrelson (#240) would lead the league in RBIs, eclipsing Frank Howard (#170) by three.  Harrelson sat on 109 for the final week of the season, as his last RBI came during the game of September 21st, with seven more games to go.  This is also the only time Harrelson would finish in the top 10 of the cartegory during his nine-year playing career.  Howard crossed the 100-RBI plateau on September 12th, and then he'd add just four more over the final weeks of the season.  He had at least 100 RBIs in four different seasons, and would lead the league with 126 in 1970.

90 RBIs was a career high for the Tigers' Jim Northrup (#580), and like Harrelson, 1968 was the only year he'd finish in the league's top ten for the mark.  Curt Blefary (#458), Bobby Knoop (#445) and John Roseboro (#218) all had 39 RBIs in 1968 and just missed the cut for inclusion on the back of this card.

#2 1968 N.L. Batting Leaders / #4 1968 N.L. RBI Leaders