1968 Topps team cards
 

I was curious if anyone might know why Topps did not include team cards for several teams (ie. Yankees, Red Sox, Houston, and Cubs) in 1968? This appears to be the only year that Topps did not include team cards for all teams.

1968 Team cards
 

Good question. The number of cards in the 68 set ( ( 598 )was less than 67 ( 609) and there were several subsets in it ( League Leaders/World Series/ Sporting News All Stars ) and some multi player cards, but why the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs would be left out is odd. On the Astros, all of their player cards were messed up too. I think most of the photos were from their Colt 45 days and were airbrushed, but the Kansas City player cards were also messed up.

There was a trademark issue with "Astro" and "astroturf" that turned those players into "Houston" for about four or five years with Topps. I can see the A's being screwy due to the Oakland move but the lack of some team cards is puzzling. It's almost like Topps missed half a series in there.

In a 7 series sets, you would have 2-3 team cards per series back then; I wonder if there were production issues in '68-the changing of the burlap borders after series 1 certainly points to some kind of problem. I agree there should have been more cards, not less in '68.

There were no Houston team cards from 64-67 either. I have more on this here:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/se...os%20Wackiness

Hi,

I began collecting with 1967 Topps football, so 1968 Topps were my first baseball cards. There are actually 7 teams that have no team card in the set- the Red Sox, Cubs, Indians, Astros, Yankees, Giants, and Senators. There are no team cards at all in the 1st series, with the Twins and Dodgers showing up in the 2nd series, and there are just 4 team cards total in the first 3 series. Starting at #308 (Pirates) in the 4th series Topps picked up the pace issuing 9 team cards through #574 (Reds).

As to why Topps skipped 7 teams, I have no idea. Dave Hornish's information regarding the Astros' legal issues shed light on that situation, but for the other 6 teams there has been no explanation that I have ever heard.

Regarding the Astros cards and airbrushing- I wondered about this for years, but the legal problem seems to hold the answer. There may also have been an issue with their owner regarding copyright, but I am not sure. The problem exists only for all 1968 cards and the first 3 series in 1969- (although the 1965 cards are also mostly airbrushed, the reason was the name and uniform change from Colt 45s to Astros that year. 1966 & 1967cards are normal). Beginning with the 4th series in '69 the Astros cards were no longer airbrushed. I still remember buying my first packs of 4th series and staring at Jim Wynn & Larry Dierker in shock since the pictures were not altered. "Houston" rather than "Astros" remained on the front of the cards for the rest of the set, but on their rookie card #499 it says "Astros' Rookies" on the back rather than "Houston". Also, 1969 was the only year after 1955 that Topps issued no team cards at all- until the early 1980s.

The Athletics moved to Oakland in 1968 so all of the KC photos were altered. Topps did not get any new '68 photos from Spring Training with Oakland's new uniforms for some of the higher series cards like they had done before with some other teams involved with expansion or moves. However, like the '68 Athletics, the 1966 Angels cards (switching from LA to California) also had no new CA logo pictures that year. If you look closely though, you will notice that the 1968 cards of Jim Gosger and Phil Roof show a reflection of the KC logo on the bills of their batting helmets. Also, the team card is not altered at all- it is the 1967 Athletics team photo.

One last note about '68 team cards- the Braves team name should have been printed in lavender and not blue to match the rest of the set's grahics. All the other 12 teams have their names in the correct colors, but not the Braves.

Thanks for reading, and if anyone ever finds out why Topps skipped these team cards Please let us know.

Jeff

1968
 

Good info Jeff

Wow, Jeff.

Welcome to Net54, and thank you for that post.

Doug

Hi,

Thanks for your kind words Al & Doug. I have been reading Net 54 since before Leon was in charge, but I have never posted a message before. If I have any other info. that might be of interest, I'll be glad to contribute.

Jeff

Collecting
 

So tell us about what you collect

Hi Al,

Well, I collect kind of all over. For baseball it would be 1990 and older, but primarily 50s-70s. I haven't really pursued pre-war cards since the mid-1980s due to the huge price increases, but I love the older cards. In football and hockey it would be about the same with an emphasis again on 50s-70s, while basketball (which I don't particularly like) it would be the Topps sets of '69-'75.

One of my main focuses is on international cards, so I do collect current soccer worldwide, but I do prefer older cards in soccer as well. I have also collected Japanese baseball seriously since the late 1970s, and I also pursue any other international baseball as well.

Thanks for your interest, and I am glad that I could help with some information.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for the insight on the 68 team cards

On a slightly related topic, I've always wondered about the 1970 set and why Topps continued to identify players as being from Seatlle when the team had already moved to Milwaukee. I can understand the first series or two since the move happened late, but by the time the sixth and seventh series came out the move was old news.

I know they couldn't change the logos on older photos, but at least change the city name.

Team Moves
 

They apparently did not learn how to do that until 1974 ;)

Hi,

You are certainly welcome for the information on the '68 team cards.

In regards to the 1970 Pilots cards, I remember wondering at the time if Topps was going to change the the team designation with the last few series, but they never did. My friend Bob who lives in Tacoma, WA has told me that the trucks with all of the Pilots' equipment left spring training in Arizona and had to stop and await instructions on whether to go north to Seattle or east to Milwaukee. He was heartbroken when the sale was announced and the team headed to Milwaukee. The Pilots were my favorite of the 4 1969 expansion teams since I liked their uniforms the best.

Thanks again for the all information that is presented here, it really helps fill in knowledge gaps and provide answers to long standing card questions that I have had.

Jeff

I just finished reading a book called 'Lords of the Realm', and in the later chapters it discussed exactly that. If I recall correctly, the trucks ended up pulling over somewhere in Utah and just sitting and waiting for further instructions.

This was the first I'd ever heard/read about that. What a strange story.

Regards,

Richard.

Jeff, I picked up this Japanese card at an antique show about a year ago. You probably recognize him (I have the specifics written down). Just thought I'd share this here for you:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...ayer_photo.jpg

Hi Mike,

That is an interesting card of Shigeo Nagashima that I have never seen before. Nagashima was the Yomiuri Giants thirdbaseman from 1958-1974, and then managed the team 2 different times. Nagashima's status in post-war Japan is somewhere between a mix of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, & John Wayne- a true national icon. Nagashima has appeared on hundreds of cards over the years, and the one you have looks to be no later than the mid-1960s, since he still looks very young.

Thanks for showing it.

Jeff