Topps 1968 Milton Bradley set

[Mark70Z]

That's a great looking card; thanks so much for posting Carlton. I've always like the pose of Belanger in this shot, with the away Baltimore uniform...classic!

Has there ever been any information discovered as to who selected the baseball players in the set? Just seems like an interesting selection. I'm just glad there are two awesome O's in there, Brooks (greatest 3rd baseman of all time), and Belanger (greatest defensive shortstop of all time). No debate; I'm correct on this one.

[goheels]

I don't think we will ever know why those seven rows of cards were selected out of the 10 possible 1st series rows and 8 possible 2nd series rows.

I never spoke with James Shea, Sr. He retired in late 1967, stayed in the Springfield area until his death around 1984.

I did speak with his son briefly, James Shea, Jr. He ran the company from 1968 until the merger with Hasbro in 1984. He moved to California, and died there in 2013 at the age of 87.

The last contact I had with anyone at Milton Bradley who had anything to do with this set has no memory left, severe dementia.

Mr. Shea Sr. was a lifetime Red Sox fan. I have always wondered why he wouldn't have picked some of the Yaz League Leader Cards--he was the triple crown winner in 1967. He might have also picked Tony Conigliaro #140. Willie Mays #50 was still one of the most popular players in those two first series. I believe the selection was random, as the atmosphere in that company in early 1968 was very hectic. I don't think Mr. Shea picked them. Checklists and rookie cards were not popular with kids back then.

[Mark70Z]

Carlton,

Thanks again so much for the information on the MB and the generosity you've shown.

Regards,

Mark

[goheels]

Here are two extreme miscut regular cards. The distance between the bottom of the red surname letters and the white border in the MB cards is 2 mm; it is 4 mm in the regular miscuts. On the back, the regular 68 Wills miscut is so extreme at the bottom that it becomes white stock. You can see white stock all the way around any 1968 regular BB sheet.

[Mark70Z]

Ok Carlton. Post your FAVORITE MB card; please...

[ALR-bishop]

Koosman rookie ?

[goheels]

Bought this Blue Eddie at a card shop years ago in New Jersey.
Definitely an MB--look at the lower border, and the yellow back.
It is next to a "missing link" card of Brinkman and Winston Hill.
A regular 68 Brinkman is depicted for comparison.
I have found at least one other MB Blue card and a few other strange ones.
It is totally missing yellow:
Yellow letters minus yellow=white letters (or blank letters)
Green circle minus yellow=blue circle

I need the printing experts to help with this one!!

[goheels]

Same card shop in New Jersey. I couldn't believe it when I saw these two. Paid 50 cents each for them.
There were 11 other MBs in the shop, none of them unusual.
You can see that the Blue Cox also has the same attributes:
Yellow letters minus yellow=white or pale letters
Green circle minus yellow=blue circle
If you look closely at the burlap, it is bleached looking, missing yellow.
It is definitely an MB by the back, which is diagnostic.
Regular Cox 68 for comparison.

[goheels]

This graded Carew MB is graded as a regular card, long before PSA recognized MBs.
It looks different from my other Carews. It looks bleached out a little bit.
You can see the white border on the bottom which is the top of the Turbo-Sonic hot rod card.
The trophy is not nearly as yellow.

[goheels]

Here is the "blue" Carew next to my PSA 9. The 9 is the only one graded as mint. There is an absence of some yellow. The tone of the grass is different as is the burlap border.

[brightair]

I'm getting the impression that there are 2 versions of regular Topps Brinkman and Cox, white team and yellow team, and just the yellow team versions of Milton Bradley cards. Is that correct?

Second, I'm trying to get a sense of value for MB cards, but can find little to go on. Can anyone give me some idea of average prices for commons, and also average prices for the Brinkman and Cox MBs? Perhaps in EX shape?

Thanks in advance.

If it looks like I am trying to acquire some of these, you are right. Have also cards to trade if anyone is interested...

https://sites.google.com/site/richar...trade-material

brightair
Richard D