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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.
Building the Set / Card #547
December 15, 2024 from The Philly Show (Vintage Cardboard Collectibles)
On Sunday, December 15th, Doug and I attended the latest Philly Show, spaciously spread out inside Hall A of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. I wrote a full show report over at The Phillies Room, including some thoughts on attending the show with our oldest son, who first graced the Philly Show floors back in 2012.
Having spent the first half hour or so pulling 98 commons and semi-stars from the neon green binder of Uncle Dick's Cards, and adding the big purchase of the day, the Rollie Fingers (#597) rookie card, and after adding a few more star cards, the remaining cash I had was starting to burn a hole in my wallet. I had noticed the common/semi-star boxes at the tables of Vintage Cardboard Collectibles, and I found 14 more cards for our 1969 Topps set and six cards for our not-yet-officially collecting 1959 Topps set. This is the second of those 14 cards. After the obligatory dealer discount, I handed over the last of my cash, and we exited the show for the drive home.
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I initially thought maybe this was the first League Leaders card to feature no Hall of Famers, but looking back there are actually five cards in the 12-card League Leaders subset that fit into that category. On September 26, 1968, the penultimate day of the regular season, Denny McLain (#150) had 276 strikeouts, Luis Tiant (#560) was third with 264 and Sam McDowell (#220) had 272. McDowell turned in an 11 strikeout performance against the Orioles in a four-hit shutout, catapulting him into the lead. McLain would strike out four in his final start of the season the next day, a tune-up for the World Series against the Cardinals. McDowell led the league in strikeouts five times, peaking with a career-high 325 in 1965. McLain never before and never again came close to his 1968 tally of 280. The same can be said for El Tiante, who crossed the 200 strikeout plateau three times during his career, in 1967 with 219, in 1968 with his career-high 264 and in 1973 with 206.
The Orioles' Eddie Watt (#652) got cheated out of recognition on the card, as he was one of three American League pitchers with 72 strikeouts in 1968. Topps included Wilbur Wood (#123) twice, showing him with 74 and 72 strikeouts, and the latter was meant to be Watt. And I found one more uncorrected error in that Clyde Wright (#583) only had 71 strikeouts per Baseball Reference.
#10 1968 N.L. Pitching Leaders / #12 1968 N.L. Strikeout Leaders
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