#12 N.L. Strikeout Leaders - Bob Gibson / Fergie Jenkins / Bill Singer

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 #561
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 second of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the second of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost a little over $2 after the dealer discount.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Cubs Team Set / Dodgers Team Set

Future Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (#200) and Fergie Jenkins (#640) were the runaway favorites to earn the league leader honors for strikeouts in 1968.  Gibson nearly missed matching his career-high mark of 270 strikeouts, set in 1965, he'd strike out one more in 1969 with 269, and he'd reach a new career best with 274 strikeouts in 1970.  He struck out 10, 11 and 11 respectively in his final three September starts.  Jenkins would lead the league a year later with 273 strikeouts in 1969.  He had led the league in strikeouts for most of 1968, with Gibson's dominant final three starts eventually overtaking him.

And Bill Singer (#575) is just happy to be here with his 227 strikeouts in 1968.  Singer would also set a career high in 1969 with 247 strikeouts.

#11 1968 A.L. Strikeout Leaders / #13 Mickey Stanley - Detroit Tigers

#9 1968 A.L. Pitching Leaders - McLain / McNally / Tiant / Stottlemyre

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 #560
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 first of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the first of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost a little over $3 after the dealer discount.

The Card / Tigers Team Set / Orioles Team Set / Indians Team Set / Yankees Team Set

This is the only League Leaders card in the set featuring four players.  Given the rarity of 20-game winners in today's game, it's still incredibly impressive to turn this card over and see 31 wins next to Denny McLain's (#150) name.  No one else was even close to him.  Dave McNally (#340) won his 22nd game on the penultimate day of the 1968 season, giving him sole possession of the card's middle panel.  

Luis Tiant (#560) and Mel Stottlemyre tied for third place with 21 wins each.  Tiant won his 21st in Indians' Game 160 on September 25th, and Stottlemeyre (#470) reached his 21st win in Yankees' Game 159 on September 24th.  There was enough room on the back of the card to highlight each American League pitcher with at least seven wins in 1968.  The eight tied with six wins, and omitted from the back of the card due to space constraints, were Steve Barber (#233), Gene Brabender (#393), Jim Lonborg (#109), Sparky Lyle (#311), Juan Pizarro (#498), Pete Richert (#86), Diego Segui (#511) and Joe Verbanic (#541).

#8 1968 N.L. ERA Leaders / #10 1968 N.L. Pitching Leaders

#11 1968 A.L. Strikeout Leaders - Sam McDowell / Denny McLain / Luis Tiant

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.

The Card / Indians Team Set / Tigers Team Set

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

#8 1968 N.L. ERA Leaders - Bob Gibson / Bobby Bolin / Bob Veale

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 #546
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 first 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.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Giants Team Set / Pirates Team Set

It's Bob, Bobby and Bob on the ERA League Leaders card, and given Bob Gibson's (#200) stunningly low 1.12 ERA from the year of the pitcher, he could have appeared on this card all by himself.  Bobby Bolin's (#505) 1.98 ERA isn't too shabby either, although according to Baseball Reference, it actually rounds up to 1.99.  Baseball Reference goes the opposite way for Bob Veale (#520), rounding his ERA down to 2.05 for the season.  Gibson's historic mark is the third lowest in National League history if you count Tim Keefe's 0.86 mark in 105 innings pitched in 1880.  Mordecai Brown is a more accurate comparison, as his ERA was 1.04 in 1906 in 277 1/3 innings pitched.  Gibson's mark came over 304 2/3 innings, which included 28 complete games (out of 34 starts) and 13 shutouts.  This was the only year in Gibson's 17-year career in which he led the league in ERA.  Bolin and Veale would never have a mark this low again.

The back of the card lists every eligible pitcher with at least 162 innings thrown in 1968, rounding out with the Phillies' Rick Wise (#188) and his 4.55 ERA in 182 innings pitched.  Having some more room, Topps gave collectors a list of essentially the top relievers, with Ronnie Kline (#and his 1.67 ERA leading the way.

#7 1968 A.L. ERA Leaders / #9 1968 A.L. Pitching Leaders

#4 1968 N.L. RBI Leaders - Willie McCovey / Ron Santo / Billy Williams

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 #440
January 6, 2024 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox)

Proving I'm taking a leisurely pace with this blog and spending time with each and every card added, this league leader card was added over a year ago with cards from three other sets I'm collecting or will be collecting.  

Wanting to start the new year off appropriately, I impulsively took advantage of a storewide sale at The Battersbox on New Year's Day, with the 1936 Diamond Stars Al Lopez (#527) card as the cornerstone of my purchase.  Lopez arrived five days later from Texas, along with three other cards from the 1955 Bowman, 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps sets.  The National League RBI Leaders card was less than $6.

With hindsight of the full year now behind me, 120 cards were added to our 1969 Topps set in 2024, with 115 of those cards recently added at The Philly Show in December.  I spent the bulk of the year going through and posting about 256 different cards purchased between March and December 2023.

The Card / Giants Team Set / Cubs Team Set

There are three future Hall of Famers on this card, and I'm sure this would have been a thrill for a Cubs fan to find in packs of Series One cards back in 1969.  Willie McCovey (#440) led the league in 1968 with 105 RBIs, and he'd top that tally with 126 RBIs in 1969 while once again leading the league and winning MVP honors.  Teammates Ron Santo (#570) and Billy Williams (#450) tied for second place in the league with 98 RBIs.  McCovey crossed the 100-RBI plateau with four RBIs on September 22nd against the Braves.  Santo enjoyed a late surge, guaranteeing his spot on this card, with nine RBIs in the last four games of the season.  And Williams had actually led the league as late as September 18th before being overtaken by McCovey and tied by Santo.  Just missing appearing on this card, with 38 RBIs each, were Tony Taylor (#108), Roberto Pena (#184), Tony Gonzalez (#501) and Dick Dietz (#293).

#3 1968 A.L. RBI Leaders / #5 1968 A.L. Home Runs Leaders

#10 1968 N.L. Pitching Leaders - Juan Marichal / Bob Gibson / Fergie Jenkins

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 #286
November 18, 2023 from The TWP Card Show - Sicklerville, NJ (Sal's Sports Cards & Memorabilia)

I wrote about this show back in December at The Phillies Room.  My wife Jenna found an announcement on Faceback for a baseball card show to be held at St. Charles Borromeo Hall in Sicklerville, New Jersey on November 18th.  That Saturday, I gathered my lists and we made the short drive to what the organizers called the "First Ever Sports Card Show" in Washington Township, which I find hard to believe given the number of baseball card stores in the area back in the 1980s and 1990s.  Potential mislabeling aside, it was a decent-sized show with mostly modern stuff and slabbed Pokemon cards.  

I found the one dealer selling vintage cards, and cleaned him out of every 1969 Topps card I needed for our set, along with a few 1959 Topps cards for our next set build.  This League Leaders card was one of seven cards added to our 1969 Topps set, and the priciest of the bunch.  Credit to Jenna for finding the show, and if it happens again, I'll gladly make the 10 minute drive over there.

The Card / Giants Team Set / Cardinals Team Set / Cubs Team Set

Three future Hall of Famers grace this card.  I've mentioned it somewhere before, but it's always baffled me why Topps didn't call this card Victory Leaders or Win Leaders instead of the nebulous Pitching Leaders.  In any event, Juan Marichal (#370) led the way with 26 wins, which would be his career high. 

Eventual Cy Young Award winner Bob Gibson (#200) had 22 wins to go along with his league leading 1.12 ERA.  No other pitcher received consideration for the Cy Young Award in 1968, as Gibson won unanimously.  Fergie Jenkins (#640) squeaked onto the card with his 20 wins, earning his 20th win on the final day of the season with a complete game victory over the Pirates.  If not for Jenkins' win, this card would have been a lot more crowded as there were three 19-game winners in 1968 - Nelson Briles (#60), Jerry Koosman (#90) and Chris Short (#395).

The four pitchers with seven wins each and just missing being listed on the back of this card were Don Cardwell (#193), Clay Carroll (#26), Rich Nye (#88) and George Stone (#627).

#9 1968 A.L. Pitching Leaders / #11 1968 A.L. Strikeout Leaders

#7 1968 A.L. ERA Leaders - Luis Tiant / Sam McDowell / Dave McNally

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 #80
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 third 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 / Indians Team Set / Orioles Team Set

A number of the league leaders cards in the 1969 set lack serious star power, and this card is no exception, but at least all three players here have team logos on their hats.  Teammates Luis Tiant (#560) and Sam McDowell (#220) had fantastic seasons for the third place Indians, and their personal records would likely have been better on a team with more wins.  Tiant was 21-9 with a 1.60 ERA in 34 overall appearances, including 32 starts, and 258 1/3 innings pitched.  

Given Denny McLain (#150) was 31-6 with a 1.96 in 1968, no other American League pitcher even received consideration in the Cy Young Award voting.  Tiant would win the ERA title again in 1972 with the Red Sox, with a 1.91 mark.  McDowell had been a previous ERA title winner in 1965 when his ERA was 2.18.  He made five more starts than Tiant and threw a team leading 269 innings.

Dave McNally (#340) just squeaked by McLain for the third spot on the front of the card, earning a 1.95 ERA.  His ERA in the 1969 postseason was 1.67 overall.  This card is listed as an UER (uncorrected error) on most checklists, given Topps misspelled McNally's name on the back.

#6 1968 N.L. Home Run Leaders / #8 1968 N.L. ERA Leaders

#5 1968 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

#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