The 1968 baseball card sets hold a special fascination for collectors and investors today. The cards from that era were the last major bubble before the modern boom in the sports card industry that started in the 1980s. Though it went largely unnoticed at the time, events in 1968 set the stage for seismic changes that would shake the baseball card collecting world.
In 1968, Topps held a near-monopoly on the baseball card market as it had since returning to the market in 1950 after World War II. The 1968 Topps set would be among the largest ever issued, with 792 total cards including variations. Forces were already at work that would end Topps’ longtime dominance. The first major challenger to Topps emerged in 1967 when Fleer produced their first modern gum cards. Though scarce and finding relatively little distribution in their debut set, Fleer had broken the monopoly and shown it was possible to compete with Topps.
In 1968, Topps production and distribution methods remained largely unchanged from the previous decades. The cards continued to be mass produced with lithographic printing on thin paper stock. They were issued via the traditional distribution model of being included as the prize in wax bubble gum packs sold in stores nationwide. Seismic changes were coming to both the sports world and culture at large in 1968 that would shake everything up.
The 1960s were a time of social and cultural upheaval as the civil rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War, and counterculture revolution shook the existing social order. In 1968, these forces could no longer be held back and exploded onto the national stage. In April, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, sparking riots and unrest across the country. In June, Bobby Kennedy, a leading presidential candidate, was also assassinated after winning the California primary. That summer, protests and unrest gripped the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In professional baseball, iconic stars like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Sandy Koufax were entering their twilight seasons. A new generation of players like Reggie Jackson, Tom Seaver, and Hank Aaron were emerging. The “Year of the Pitcher” in 1968 saw a dramatic decline in batting averages and the dominance of pitching. perhaps most notably, Cardinals legend Bob Gibson posted a preposterous 1.12 ERA. In the Fall of 1968, the “Pride and Joy” of St. Louis, Gibson and the Cardinals, defeated the Detroit Tigers in a dramatic seven-game World Series.
While seemingly mundane and routine to consumers at the time, the 1968 Topps design reflected the unsettled nature of the times. Gone were the whimsical cartoony illustrations of the past. In their place was a stark new photo-centric design with solid colors and a no-nonsense aesthetic. Topps photographic coverage of the season and players also reflected changes in baseball and society. Images showed Afro-styled hair lengths bordering on rebellion for the conservative times. Player poses and facial expressions seemed tense, reflective, and distant—mirroring the unease of America in 1968.
Behind the scenes, Topps was also feeling pressure. Fleer was challenging them by producing the ambitious all-color 1969 set, greatly improving production quality from just a year earlier. Other trading card companies like the Pittsburgh Paper Company’s “Super” brand were experimenting as well. Topps barely renewed its exclusive agreements with major leagues and players’ unions—these would be the final year of such sweeping exclusive deals. Within a few short years, the trading card market Topps once dominated would be fractured among competing publishers.
For collectors today, the 1968 Topps set holds a revered place as arguably the most historically significant issue in the post-WWII era. They were the final cards produced during Topps’ long period of baseball card dominance and exclusivity. They captured the turbulent changing of an era in both society and the game of baseball. Grading services have also confirmed many 1968 cards survived in excellent unopened conditioned compared to earlier decades. This has made high-grade 1968s some of the most iconic and valuable unopened vintage cards coveted by today’s investors. Examples that grade Gem Mint or higher regularly sell at auction for thousands of dollars per card.
There are also many fascinating variations and anomalies to find among 1968 issues. Late season and playoff roster changes resulted in additional photo variations. Printings were inconsistent, leaving some short prints much rarer than others. Errors like missing signatures, inverted or missing team logos, and reverse negative printing mistakes all add fascination to the set. In this transitional year, Topps field staff made errors—a marked difference from the well-oiled machine quality control of previous decades.
The turbulent social changes and transitional times for baseball and the card industry make 1968 a defining year. For today’s investors and advanced collectors, high-grade examples tucked away in attics or stored away for 50 years still surface occasionally. Discovering a fresh cache of pristine 1968s is akin to finding buried treasure from another era. They capture a changing world on the verge of upheaval and represent arguably the single most significant vintage card set from the sport’s “Golden Age.” An unopened 1968 pack or box remains the Holy Grail that many collectors hope is still out there, waiting to be discovered after all these years.
