#5 A.L. Home Run Leaders - Frank Howard / Willie Horton / Ken Harrelson

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 #79
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

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 second 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.  The same three teams featured on the A.L. RBI Leaders card (#3) are repeated here, with Frank Howard (#170) and Ken Harrelson (#240) making their second appearances, and Willie Horton (#180) replacing Jim Northrup (#580).  As shown on the back, Northrup had 21 home runs in 1968, and four of those were grand slams, which helped propel him onto the RBI Leaders card.

All three sluggers shown here hit their career high marks in 1968 for home runs.  44 home runs were a career high for Howard, and he'd match the total while leading the league again in 1970.  Horton also reached his career high with 36 home runs, and this would be the closest he'd ever come to leading the league.  He'd finish within the top 10 in five different seasons between 1965 and 1979.  Harrelson, most likely wearing a Senators uniform in this photo, would hit 30 home runs in 1969, then only six more home runs in 1970 and 1971.

#4 1968 N.L. RBI Leaders / #6 1968 N.L. Home Run Leaders