My Favorite 1968 Cards

1968 was the second year I collected baseball cards.

It seemed like the first series had a lot of players who were in the not-to-be-found 1967 high-numbered series. (Tom Seaver, Rod Carew, Brooks Robinson, Vada Pinson, Rocky Colavito, Al Ferrara, Cookie Rojas, and Juan Pizarro to name a few.) So I quickly had cards for those missing players. 

These were my favorite cards from that set.

Bobby Wine - I always liked this photo, but I'm not sure why.  Although I was a Phillies fan, I was not particularly a Bobby Wine fan, nor was he one of the team's top dozen or so players.

Gary Sutherland - I do know why I liked this card.  His rookie card in 1967 was in the high-numbered series, so I didn't get that until years later.  Plus, here's a kid only a few years older than my pre-teen self at the time, and he was IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES! Surely he would be the Phillies' "shortstop of the future", with only the aging Dick Groat and weak-hitting Bobby Wine to contend with.

NL ERA Leaders - Two Phillies among the league's top three!

Super Stars / Manager's Dream - These 2 cards were in the 6th or 7th series, and were 2 of the 3 multi-player cards in the 1968 set.  The players were from a mix of teams, which was a departure from Topps' usual multi-player cards.

NL Batting Leaders - In 1967, Tony Gonzalez had worked his way up from platoon left-fielder to every-day center-fielder, and finished with a .339 batting average. (In the late-60s, Phillies' fans had to find positives anywhere we could!)

Tom Seaver - I still don't have Tom Seaver's 1967 rookie card, so this was my first Seaver card. ROY, shiny trophy, what's not to like?

Denny McLain - I admit, I jumped on the Tigers' bandwagon sometime during the 1968 season, and followed McLain's trek to 30 wins and the World Championship.

Mickey Mantle - A favorite card of mine and 99.99% of all the other kids.

Denny McLain (#40)

Denny McLain was originally signed by the White Sox, but made his major-league debut with the Tigers in 1963. He returned to the big leagues to stay in the following season. McLain had a string of 5 excellent seasons from 1965 to 1969, with the high point coming in 1968, when he won 31 games and led the Tigers to the AL pennant. McLain and Mickey Lolich pitched the Tigers to victory over the Cardinals in the World Series. Denny was also the MVP in 1968, and won the Cy Young Award in 1968 and 1969. (McLain is the only pitcher to win 30 games since 1934.)



After the 1969 season, the bottom fell out for McLain, as he had off-field problems (including a suspension for gambling). Before the 1971 season he was traded to the Washington Senators, where he proceeded to lose 22 games.

After that season, it was on to Oakland and then Atlanta. The Braves released him prior to the 1973 season, but he played in the minor leagues in 1973 before retiring.

During his playing career, McLain was a popular nightclub organ player.

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