The 1968 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic issues in the hobby’s history. Though not as valuable as some sets from the 1950s, several scarce and coveted cards make the 1968 Topps set highly desirable for collectors. The 524-card regular issue included all 26 major league teams from 1967 and had largely the same basic design as the previous few years. A handful of error cards and short-printed players make finding high-grade examples of certain cards very difficult.
Perhaps the most famous short-print in the set is the Nolan Ryan rookie card (#506). Topps only printed around 100 copies of Ryan’s first card despite him being one of the hottest prospects in baseball at the time. Graded mint condition examples now sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Another mega-popular short-print was the Johnny Bench rookie (#110). Bench would go on to have a Hall of Fame career as arguably the greatest offensive catcher ever, making high-grade copies of his rookie extremely valuable. Only a small initial run was printed, and the card remained very difficult to locate for many years.
Among the other biggest short-prints with only a few hundred or so copies produced were a trio of All-Star outfielders – Reggie Jackson (#495), Carl Yastrzemski (#498), and Roberto Clemente (#490). All three legends were impactful contributors for their respective franchises for many seasons. Finding their ’68 rookies in pristine condition is basically impossible. Other scarce first-year cards include pitchers Dave McNally (#493), Don Wilson (#487), and Don Sutton (#486). All three hurlers enjoyed lengthy successful MLB tenures.
A few true oddball “short prints” also inhabit the set. Mike McCann’s (#164) Dodgers card was printed upside down by mistake. Only a tiny quantity survived before Topps caught and halted production. Similarly strange was an error variation of future Hall of Famer Al Kaline’s (#537) Tigers card showing him with a shadow across his face. Simply put, copies of these freak issues are virtually nonexistent today.
Beyond the big short-prints and errors, other tough high-numbers include Joe Pepitone (#478) of the Yankees, pitcher Clyde Wright (#519) of the Angels, and outfielder Ken Berry (#523) of the Twins. All seem to have been printed with small distribution, making pristine versions scarce to unobtainable.
A couple stars from the late 1960s also have surprisingly low-print cards for how good they were – outfielders Frank Robinson (#463) of the Orioles and Hank Aaron (#451) of the Braves. Robinson was in the midst of his only season with Baltimore after many years in Cincinnati, while Aaron was deep into his remarkable career. Finding their ’68s in top condition isn’t easy.
No discussion of scarcer 1968s would be complete without mentioning the short-printed Dodgers team issue cards. The Brooklyn-based franchise had recently relocated to Los Angeles, so Topps only produced a tiny quantity of their team cards (#556-#577). In high grade, they are virtually unseen. Of course, the true blockbuster stars all had regular distribution – cards of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax and more can be located in superior quality, though never inexpensively.
With such a mix of legitimate short-prints, freak errors, and future Hall of Famers, the 1968 Topps baseball set holds a hallowed place in the hobby. Now over 50 years old, pristine examples of the toughest cards like the Ryan and Bench rookies routinely sell at auction for five and even six figures. With its blend of vintage design, obscure printing variations, and historic rookie debuts, the 1968s remain one of the most collected issues and hold tremendous nostalgia for baby boomers who first encountered them as children. The diverse combination of scarcity, big name players, and rich baseball history make certain 1968 Topps cards among the most sought-after in the entire sports collecting realm.
