Men Without Hats II

To date, I've only made 8 posts here about the Athletics, fewest of any team. So I was planning to post their 1968 team card, but I just led off my last 1967 post with the team card, so I decided to call an audible and revisit some of the awesomeness that was Topps in 1968.

For the 2nd time in 3 years, Topps screwed over an American League team from California. NOT ONE CARD in this set has an Athletic in their new Oakland uniform. Even the first-year Atlanta Braves got a few decent cards in the 1966 7th series, and in 1969 Topps was able to include new cards for FOUR expansion teams in the later series.

But Topps really half-assed the 1968 set. Even the total number of cards dropped from the previous set, from 609 in ’67 to 598 in ’68. This despite adding TWENTY All-Star cards, which they did not have in 1967. They also curiously decided to dispense with team cards altogether halfway through the season, so 7 teams were without a team card that year.

Sure, we were expecting the Astros not to have one, because Topps never made a Colt 45s/Astros team card until 1970, but six other teams also? (That’s another thing – someone’s always giving the Astros the shaft. If it’s not Topps, then it’s the dope in the commissioner's office.)


So here are the 1968 Athletics – “Men Without Hats” (or in some cases, “Men With Bad Hats”):

(And what's with having FOUR catchers?)