Friday, June 27, 2014

('68 Topps) Game (Inserts) On!



I got a couple of '68 Topps Game inserts from Jim in Downington a few weeks back (look here for the Robinson boys, Brooks and Frank) and then I got to poking around eBay and COMC just to see what the other cards in the set were going for.

What I found was that of the 33 cards in the set about three quarters of them could be had ungraded but in nice condition for between .69 cents and a buck. Well, hell that's all I needed to see.

I went on a little spree and snatched up 24 or so from COMC including most of the 'common' players and some of the stars. If you exclude the Mays which cost $3.50 the average cost was about .75 cents apiece. That's pretty neat for a set with plenty of late '60s star power.

Granted these cards are inserts, and probably are not for everybody but they are a cool and cheap way to pick up some big names at bargain prices. If they were popular they would not be that cheap. There is a lot of 21 including 14 different and some dupes up on eBay for $10 and change.






I like the Mays card as it appears that whoever did the cut'n'paste-ing for the sets' proofs was more careful with Willie than they were for some of the others.


As I mentioned in that earlier post the pitchers included in the set are a notch (or two or three) below the hitters included. There are 14 Hall of Famers included, none of which are pitchers.


I have bids in on the rest of the set and once I have them in hand I'll post them and the others I have scanned.

One thing I never realized was that the set was available as a boxed set! I saw these cards when they were included as Third Series pack inserts in '68 but never saw the box. I recently found a scan of the box through Google.


I may have a new "white whale"!

5 comments:

  1. These are awesome! For years I mixed these up with the 1951 Topps Red Backs. Great way to collect 60's stars without breaking the bank. Whenever you can grab a vintage Mantle for under $10, you know you've scored. Best of luck on your set.

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  2. I thought it was odd that Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal weren't included in the set.

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  3. Cool post. I love this set as well. I've got 5 or 6 more to go to finish this "insert" set. I though one of my last spending sprees on sportlots finished it up, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Wow I didn't know the set was available as a separate thing back then. Looks like I'm gonna be on that same whalin' ship (among many others) with you Brother Bob.

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  4. Very nice! They're sort of a nicer version of the Milton Bradley cards from a couple years later. Love the Mays.

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