#428 Lou Brock AS - St. Louis Cardinals

All-Star cards returned to Topps sets in 1968 under The Sporting News banner for a three-year run between 1968 and 1970.  Topps included 20 All-Star cards in its 1969 set, featuring 10 All-Stars from each league and one player from each position, including both a right-handed and left-handed pitcher.  

Building the Set / Card #630

September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Niagara Sports Cards)

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.  My third stop was a smaller table with the impossible to pass up offer of 1969 Topps commons that were only $1, unless marked.  The binder was right at the end of the table, making it an even easier sell.  The prices on some of the cards were stunningly low, so I was even more surprised when the dealer, Niagara Sports Cards, gave me an even deeper discount upon tallying up my total.

I found 12 cards needed from Niagara Sports Cards, and this was the eighth of those 12, and the 71st of 91 cards for the set added overall on the day.  I paid less than $1.50 for it after the bulk dealer discount was applied. 

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Pete Rose Puzzle

Lou Brock (#85), teammate Curt Flood (#540) and Pete Rose (#120) each get outfield spots on The Sporting News National League All-Star team.  Flood, Henry Aaron (#100) and Willie Mays (#190) were the starting outfielders in the actual 1968 All-Star Game, with Matty Alou (#490), Aaron and Cleon Jones (#512) starting in the outfield in the 1969 game.  I wonder what made Topps give the nod to Brock for this card over Aaron?  Brock was a six-time All-Star, earning a spot on the team in 1967, 1971-72, 1974-75 and 1979.

Linked below is a great article from Sports Collectors Daily, and the author did his best in tracking down the origins of the action photos appearing on these All-Star subset cards.  There's some fantastic detective work explained in the article, but there are six All-Stars cards, including this Brock card, where the author has had no success yet in identifying the background photo.  Ironically, Brock does actually appear as the background photo on the All-Stars card of Rod Carew (#419).

The backs of these All-Star cards contain a puzzle piece of either Rose or Carl Yastrzemski (#130).  The back of Brocks's card features Rose's batting grip.

Topps All-Star Card Appearances (3):  1968-69, 1976

1968 Topps #372

1976 Topps #10

Sources:  
Baseball Reference

Sports Collectors Daily - Mistaken Identities

#427 Tony Oliva AS - Minnesota Twins / #429 Willie Horton AS - Detroit Tigers

#165 1968 World Series Game 4 - Brock's Lead-Off HR Starts Cards' Romp

The 1968 World series marked the last time two teams faced off in the Fall Classic without having to first advance via a playoff series.  With Major League Baseball expanding to 24 teams in 1969, the two leagues were split into four divisions and a League Championship Series would determine the World Series opponents between 1969 and 1993.

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.

Building the Set / Card #278
September 23, 2023 from The Philly Show (Ed's Old Baseball Cards)
Given the massive haul of 193 cards acquired for our 1969 Topps set at the March Philly Show, I held off on adding more cards throughout the summer of 2023.  We weren't even going to go to the Philly Show last September, but our oldest son's baseball tournament was rained out, and we found ourselves with a free weekend.  I wrote about the show originally over at The Phillies Room.

I added just 15 cards to our set build at this show, all from the same dealer, Ed's Old Baseball Cards out of the Buffalo area.  Technically, the cards I bought were from Ed's associate, Gary, who explained he was along for the ride and brought a bunch of his vintage cards for sale.  I picked four needed star cards first, and Gary gave us a nice discount on the purchase, so we went back after securing a few autographs.  I picked 11 more commons and semi-stars from his modest selection of 1960s Topps cards for sale, including this World Series card.  Posting for these 15 cards should take me a lot less longer than what it took to get through the box of cards brought home from the March 2023 Philly Show.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Tigers Team Set  

The Cardinals seemingly figured out 31-game winner Denny McLain (#150), jumping on the eventual American League Cy Young Award winner for four runs in the first three innings of the game.  McLain's troubles were likely connected with a steady rain, which delayed the start of the game by 35 minutes.  As highlighted on this card, Lou Brock (#85) led off the game with a home run.  Roger Maris reached when McLain dropped a pop-up and would come around to score on a Mike Shannon (#110) RBI-single.  An RBI-triple from Tim McCarver (#475) followed by an RBI-double from Shannon in the third, combined with a 75-minute rain delay, would chase McLain from the game.  Cardinals' starting pitcher Bob Gibson (#200) helped his own cause with a home run off reliever off Joe Sparma (#488) to lead off the fourth.  Gibson would secure his second RBI of the game with a bases loaded walk in the eighth inning.

On the mound, Gibson pitched a complete game, winning his second game of the World Series.  He struck out 10 and allowed a fourth inning solo home to Tigers' center fielder Jim Northrup (#580).  The Cardinals had a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series following this victory and they needed to win one of the next three games in order to secure back-to-back World Championships.

Eddie Mathews started at third base for the Tigers, batting seventh and going 1 for 2 with a walk in his final game as a player.

Sources:

Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

#164 1968 World Series Game 3 / #166 1968 World Series Game 5