Question about this 1968 Topps baseball card

edmundfitzgerald

What's going on here ?

PaulMaul

I think he's wearing a AAA uniform, which is A's-like, but the cap must not have been....

strat4454

They moved to Oakland from Kansas City after the 1967 season.
So Topps blacked out the hat because it had KC on it.

MooseDog

<< <i>They moved to Oakland from Kansas City after the 1967 season.
So Topps blacked out the hat because it had KC on it. >>



The uniform he is wearing is KC style 1965-1967 and the background looks like it could be spring training. So yes, they airbrushed out the cap as the KC caps had "KC" whereas when the A's moved to Oakland it was "A's" and all the 1968 jerseys had "Oakland" across the front. Almost all of the Oakland players in the 1968 set have some kind of alteration.

bishop

In 1966 Marvin Miller became the head of the MLB Players Association and went to work on getting better a deal from Topps for player photos. That year saw a lot of tension between the owners and players, and secondarily between the players and Topps. As an aside, it was also the year of the Pitcher. Yaz led the AL with only a .301 average, and Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA while Denny McClain racked up 31 wins. Both league MVPs were pitchers.

Up until 1967 players had long term contract with Topps for $ 125 per year per player for use of their photos. Miller wanted them to have more and many players started refusing to renew their contracts when due, or refused to have new photos taken even if still under contract. The result, until a deal was reached, was old photos and a smaller set. That situation continued until the 5th series in 1969 after a deal was reached between Topps and the players (The first 4 series in 69 are also full of capless, air brushed photos and numerous rookie cards with the players in minor league duds). Many 68 card photos appear again within the first 4 series in 69 ( for example Seaver/Aaron/Banks/Morgan) .The new contract raised the player annual fee to $ 250 but also gave the players a % of Topps sales over a certain amount.

The 1967 set had been 609 cards. Lack of new photos dropped the 68 set to 598, and to even get to that number Topps included several players who had not been in the majors for several years ( for example T Aaron/Dick Calmus/Jimmy Shaffer/John Tsitouris). There were 43 rookie cards in 67 and only 29 in 68 ( no Giants rookie card) .

Many of photos in the 68 cards seem to have been taken in 1966 or earlier. The 68 Oaklnad cards are a mess due to the move and no new photos. And the Astros appear in Colt 45 garb, which means photos went back to 1965 before the change in 66.

Reggie Jackson came on the Scene in 1967 but does not appear on a Topps card until 1969.

Of the 598 cards, 114 are capless and 48 have airbrushed hats. And 28 % of the set cards show no logo. In 1969 the set bounced back up to 664 and new photos started showing up in series 5.

Dean Hanley had an article in SCD in December of 2010 that discussed the Topps 1968 set in general and it's photo problems in particular

grote15

Bishop, that is one thorough and informative post! Well done!

DanBessette

Well done indeed.

60sfan

<< <i>Bishop, that is one thorough and informative post! Well done! >>



+1

jmaciu

<< <i>

<< <i>Bishop, that is one thorough and informative post! Well done! >>



+1 >>



I learn something new every single day on this board. Thanks Bishop!!

gemint

Great read! Thanks Bishop. I've collected those sets for years and never registered the issues with the uniforms. I just assumed Topps airbrushed photos of traded players.

PaulMaul

This info explains clearly why I dislike both the '68 and '69 sets so much.

Dboneesq

<< <i>Bishop, that is one thorough and informative post! Well done! >>

mattinglymint23

Bishop - awesome post. I wish I knew that much about anything let alone cards.