#169 1968 World Series - Tigers Celebrate Their Victory

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 #643

September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Crazy Boxes)

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.  I'm not even sure how best to describe the fifth table I visited.  I typically steer clear of tables that look incredibly disorganized or tables that look as if the dealer put minimal effort into his/her display.  This table was both.  But the crudely designed, hand-made sign advertising "Entire Table is 50% Off" made me stop and at least look at what was in the 1969 Topps hodgepodge of cards.  And I'm glad I did.  It took me a solid 20-25 minutes to go through the cards that were loosely in order, but I found seven cards I needed with either mislabeled prices (?) or prices that hadn't been updated since the 1980s.  I paid a little over $0.50 for this World Series card, the third of seven cards purchased from what I'm calling the Crazy Boxes table, and I wished I had made this table my first stop.

The Card / Tigers Team Set / Cardinals Team Set  

Dick McAuliffe (#305), Denny McLain (#150) and Willie Horton (#180) are featured on the obligatory World Series wrap-up/celebration card, and I always appreciated these somewhat oddball inclusions into the Topps base sets.  There's a whole lot of very small statistics on the card's back, and anyone interested in reading any of that would first need to find a magnifying glass.

Sources:

Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

#168 1968 World Series Game 7 / #170 Frank Howard - Washington Senators

#305 Dick McAuliffe - Detroit Tigers

Richard John McAuliffe
Detroit Tigers
Second Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  176
Born:  November 29, 1939, Hartford, CT
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1960-73; Boston Red Sox 1974-75

World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1968
Died:  May 13, 2016, Farmington, CT (age 76)

Dick McAuliffe spent all but two seasons of his16-year big league career with the Tigers, where he was an All-Star for three straight seasons between 1965 and 1967.  He was the regular second baseman for the 1968 Tigers team that defeated the Cardinals in seven games in the 1968 World Series.  Known for his unusual batting stance, McAuliffe enjoyed one of his best seasons in 1968 when he led the league with 95 runs scored and went the entire season without grounding into a double play - still an American League record.  He struggled at times defensively, leading the league twice for errors committed as a shortstop in 1964 and as a second baseman in 1967.  He finished in the top 10 in triples in the American League eight times.

McAuliffe was traded to the Red Sox in October 1973 for Ben Oglivie.  He had started the 1975 season as the manager for the Red Sox' Double-A team in Bristol, but was recalled and activated by the Red Sox in August appearing in seven games.  He retired following the 1975 season having appeared in 1,763 games and accumulating 1,530 hits with a .247 average.  He had 197 lifetime home runs.  

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #614
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Vintage Sports)

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 second stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table.  I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2.  I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4. 

I found 28 commons needed before moving on to my third stop.  This was the 20th of 28 total cards bought from Vintage Sports, and the 55th of 91 cards for the set added overall on the day.  Unsleeved, this card cost less than $1 after a dealer discount.

The Card / Tigers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This card features a photo likely taken at the same time as the photo used for McAuliffe's 1968 Topps card.  His high home run totals for a shortstop (24 in 1964 and 23 in 1966) are highlighted on the back, along with the home run he hit in Game 3 of the 1968 World Series off Cardinals' pitcher Ray Washburn (#415).  For a few decades, McAuliffe held the Tigers' franchise record for most home runs in a season by a shortstop and a second baseman.  His shortstop record was surpassed by Alan Trammell in 1987, and his second baseman record was topped by Lou Whitaker in 1989.

Accuracy Index:  McAuliffe's card earns a +5.

1969 Season
From his SABR biography, written by John Cizik: 

A knee injury and subsequent surgery derailed his 1969 season, limiting the 29-year-old McAuliffe to 74 games.  He still managed 11 homers and 33 RBIs.  He matched 1968's error total with nine.  He would play four more years with Detroit, never reaching the heights of the 1960s.

1962 Topps #527

1966 Topps #495

1968 Topps #285

1973 Topps #349

1974 Topps #495

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1962 Topps #527
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1962-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams #74
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  80 in the Beckett online database as of 1/18/26.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#304 Padres Rookie Stars / #306 Jim Grant - Montreal Expos