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The Cardinals and Tigers were powerhouses in their respective leagues, easily advancing to the World Series. This was a rematch of the 1934 World Series, when the Gashouse Gang of the Cardinals had bested the Tigers in seven games. The Tigers would prevail this time, winning their first title since 1945, and their third World Series title overall as the Cardinals couldn't repeat after winning in 1967 against the Red Sox.
World Series cards were a key subset in Topps flagship sets throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with a card highlighting each game along with a series capping "Celebration" card. Topps designed its World Series cards in its 1969 set to have the appearance of the front page of a newspaper, with The Sporting News getting some free publicity as the paper's banner.
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September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.
I took my time and found 32 commons and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set. It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to my second stop. This was the fifth of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the fifth of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost a little less than $10 after the dealer discount.
It was a pitching match-up for the ages with the Tigers' Denny McLain (#150), 31-6 in the regular season with a 1.96 ERA, facing off against the Cardinals' Bob Gibson (#200), 22-9 in the regular season with a 2.12 ERA. There was no score in the game until the bottom of the fourth, when Roger Maris and Tim McCarver (#475) both walked with one out. Mike Shannon (#110) singled home Maris and both McCarver and Shannon would come home a batter later on a Julian Javier (#497) single to right. Tigers' manager Mayo Smith (#40) pinch-hit for McLain in the top of the sixth, with reliever Pat Dobson (#231) taking over. Lou Brock (#85) gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead in the seventh with a solo home run off Dobson. That's all Gibson needed, and he'd strike out the side in the ninth - Al Kaline (#410), Norm Cash (#80) and Willie Horton (#180) - to secure the Game 1 win and set a new strikeout mark for a World Series game. Sandy Koufax held the prior record of 15 strikeouts in a game, set during the 1963 World Series, and Gibson's record still stands today.
Topps reprinted this card in its 2001 Topps Archives set.
Sources:
#161 John Purdin - Los Angeles Dodgers / #163 1968 World Series Game 2
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