The 1967 Topps Set: A Card Collector’s Dream

A decade after introducing “on field” shots for the 1957 collection, Topps returned to the baseball diamond for the 1967 set and created one of the most aesthetically pleasing and enigmatic assemblages ever produced. Offering the brightest and sharpest images to date, Topps decided to let the photo the focal point of the card by ditching the nameplates and moving a small player name and position combo to the top of the card and the colored team name to the bottom. Matching the clean image of the front is the bright green surface on the back, which alerts collectors to whether a raw card has top-grade potential. With significant rookie cards, a tough high-number series and a handful of quirky variations, the ‘67 Topps set provides plenty to challenge the high-grade set-builder.

The set features 609 cards, not exactly a convenient figure when producing 132-card sheets, with several cards either short-printed or double printed. Even more interesting was the decision to slightly change the format after the first series, adding a dot between the player’s name and their position for series two through six. And each card carries a facsimile signature; that is with one unexplained exception (#254 Milt Pappas). But that’s just the start for the idiosyncratic ‘67 Topps set, which contains some of the most bizarre variations in existence which bump the master set from 609 to 624. Some are minor revisions; a trade statement added to #26 Bob Priddy and #86 Mike McCormick, the placement or addition of a period or copyright date on checklist cards #62 and 103, checklist #191 that changes the name Dick Kelley to Tom Kelley (and adds a neck to Willie Mays’ inset photo), and card #417 Bob Bruce, which had “RBAVES” misspelled on the back and later corrected.

But then there are the more puzzling variations; card #374 Queen, 402 Jackson, 427 Gomez and 447 Belinsky are missing stats or the stat line on the reverse, mysterious green ink appears above the bat on #58 Schaal, an inexplicable white streak was later removed on card #149 Moeller and 252 Bolin, part of the name is missing on the front of #128 Spezio, and checklist #454 features an inset photo of Juan Marichal, whose missing left ear suddenly reappears on the revised card. There’s even a blank-backed proof of #45 Roger Maris as a member of the Yankees (he was traded to the Cardinals before the season and CARDS appears on his regular card) though it is not considered part of the master set. And while the high-number series (#534-609) is understandably tougher, there are several that are particularly difficult to find in high-grade due to centering issues or print problems and are more heavily weighted on the PSA Set Registry; #558 Belanger RC, 560 Bunning, 570 Wills, 580 Colavito, 592 NL Rookies, 604 Red Sox team, 605 Shannon, 607 Stanley, 609 John, and the toughest of all, card #600 featuring Brooks Robinson. The highly coveted rookie cards of Tom Seaver and Rod Carew were held back and inserted in the high-number series, making them even more pricey than even Mickey Mantle’s stunning card #150

Mile High Card Company To Offer #4 PSA Set Registry Ranked 1967 Topps Set in their October 2018 Auction

Featured in the upcoming Mile High Card Company Auction is the #4 ranked 1967 Topps basic set, which carries a set rating of 9.49. There 154 cards graded PSA 10, including #30 Kaline, 240 NL Batting Leaders, 570 Wills, six cards from the difficult high-number series and four “one of one” examples (#38, 135, 137 and 145). Every major star from Mantle to Mays to Clemente, as well as the highly-prized rookie cards of Tom Seaver and Rod Carew, is graded PSA 9 with over 96% of the set rated MINT or GEM MINT. As MHCC has done in the past with world-ranked collections, this set will be offered as individual lots as well as a complete set (with the final sale going to whichever total (the set versus the sum of the individual lots) is higher. This provides the opportunity for many set-builders to improve upon their collections or for one collector to catapult themselves into contention on the PSA Set Registry with a winning bid on the entire set. The auction opens on Monday, September 17th and concludes on Thursday, October 4th.

1967 Topps Baseball Complete Set #4 Current Finest on PSA Set Registry With 9.49 GPA

The 1965 Topps Set: The “Empire” Strikes Back

You can criticize Topps for many things, but lack of imagination isn’t one of them. Though they controlled a virtual monopoly in the national baseball card market following Bowman’s demise in 1955, Topps never stopped searching for new ways to deliver their product, but not all of them were home runs. The 1964 series was a disappointment for many collectors. They said the cards were simple and boring, that there weren’t any good rookie cards and the orange backs just seemed out of place. In short, the set just lacked pizzazz. And then came the 1965 Topps set! Topps broke out the Crayolas to deliver one of the most enticing and colorful collections in the company’s history. With sharp photographic displays, most set against a bright blue sky, surrounded by boldly pigmented frames of various colors, the 1965 Topps set became an instant hit that has withstood the test of time as one of the most beloved collections of the decade.

This Set Has It All!

For the first time since the 1957 collection, the 598-card ’65 set featured a great selection of rookie cards with Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Steve Carlton as well as short-printed cards of Catfish Hunter and Tony Perez leading the way. The debut card featuring Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in the majors, added an international flair while star pitchers Luis Tiant, Denny McLain and Tug McGraw also making their first appearances. For the third straight year, the set opens with American and National League Leaders cards and includes World Series Highlights cards from #132-139. Of course, the key cards in the set are Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose and Sandy Koufax, all of which are among their priciest cards in high-grade. Speaking of which, the set is tough but possible to assemble at or near of the top of PSA’s grading scale with only 1,332 cards have graded PSA 10 or about one out of every 150 submissions, and just over 11% of all submissions have received a MINT grade. Several significant Hall of Fame issues have yet to find their way to the PSA 10 level, including 50 Marichal, 160 Clemente, 300 Koufax, 330 Ford, 350 Mantle and 400 Killebrew. And that leads us to one of the most amazing post-war sets ever assembled.

Mile High Card Company to Offer 1965 Topps Set Ranked #1 All-Time on the PSA Set Registry in MHCC’s March Auction.

At an overall GPA of approximately 9.85, the 1965 Topps Set featured in MHCC’s March auction is well over a half-point ahead of its next closest challenger. There are 211 cards graded GEM MINT; that’s almost 16% of all existing GEM MINT specimens. Key cards to earn PSA’s top grade include #1 AL Batting Ldrs., 5 AL RBI Ldrs., 6 NL RBI Ldrs., 10 NL Pitching Ldrs., 12 NL Strikeout Ldrs., 95 Mazeroski, 155 Maris, 187 Stengel, 193 Perry, 205 Spahn, 377 Stargell, 500 Mathews, 513 Yankees Team and 540 Brock. Every other card is graded PSA 9. For high-grade set-builders, this is a golden opportunity to raise your set rating because this set is being offered two ways; in its entirety as well as individual lots, with the final sale determined by the greater total of the set versus the sum of the lots.

The 1961 Topps Baseball Set – Nothing But Meat and Potatoes!

PSA Registry #2 Ranked Set in MHCC March Auction

It was just 3 weeks into the start of a new year and America was inaugurating John F. Kennedy as its 35th President. World War II was long behind us but a new threat emerged from its aftermath, one that would leave our nation on edge for decades and change the culture of our society. In a time marked by unrest and uncertainty, the Topps Company released a 1961 baseball set that brought order to chaos.

Gone were the wild color schemes of the 1958 and 1959 sets as well as the horizontal format of the 1960 collection. The 1961 Topps baseball set eliminated all of the gimmicky bells and whistles, offering a straightforward, no-nonsense format with brilliant color photos and rectangular name and team plates at the bottom. In addition to the usual lineup of superstars, Topps expanded their arsenal of star power with league leader cards, a “Baseball Thrills” subset that featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, a Most Valuable Player series and the high-numbered All-Star cards. While many collectors believe the 1961 set to be too conservative, sedate or just plain dull, it’s ample selection of Hall of Fame rookie cards (Ron Santo, Juan Marichal, and Billy Williams) and popularity of the Mantle and Maris cards due to “The Chase” has made the 1961 Topps baseball set a true classic!

It’s tougher than you think!

Many collectors are under the impression that the 1961 Topps set is the “easy” one to assemble in high-grade versus other sets of the decade. That might be true when compared to the troublesome 1962 and 1963 sets and their pesky colored edges, but statistics show that just over 6% of all 1961 Topps submissions have earned a grade of PSA 9 and only 0.24% (561 cards total) can claim GEM MINT PSA 10 status, making the 1961 Topps set tougher in elite grade than every Topps set from 1964 through 1969. Much of that is due to the higher number series (#523-589), among the toughest to complete of all Topps sets, which boasts many single pop PSA 9s and “one of one” PSA 10s.

1961 Topps Complete Set #2 On PSA Set Registry with Incredible 9.02 GPA

Presented for bidding, as a complete set as well as individual lots with the final sale going to whichever total (the set versus the sum of the individual lots) is higher, is truly a marvel in set assembly, ranked #2 on the PSA Set Registry with an astonishing overall GPA of 9.023. Of the 561 recorded PSA 10s, 24 are offered here, including the one and only PSA 10 specimens of #186 Valo, 255 Power, 405 Gehrig Benched, 438 Flood, 491 Phillies Team and 581 Frank Robinson All-Star. Other important PSA 10s are #260 Drysdale, 443 Snider and 484 Aaron MVP. Card #2 Maris, 150 Mays, 300 Mantle, 475 Mantle MVP, 559 Gentile, 563 Cerv, 578 Mantle All-Star and 579 Mays All-Star are all graded PSA 9 with just 15 cards in the entire collection graded lower. For a complete breakdown of cards and grades in this set, please visit our website for a link to the PSA Set Registry.
The auction opened for bidding on Monday, March 2nd and will conclude on Thursday, March 19th. All auction items are now available at our website, www.milehighcardco.com. MHCC is actively accepting consignments for our June auction, please call us at (303) 840-2784 to discuss any items you wish to consign or visit us in Philadelphia (March 6th – 8th) or Chicago (March 20th- 22nd) to drop off any consignment items and pick up a catalog for the current auction.