1967 Topps Baseball

A lengthy description of this set is near the bottom of this sidebar.

Mets Rookies (Tom Seaver)
AL Rookies (Rod Carew)

The 1967 Topps set included 609 cards, the largest number to date. The cards had vertical backs, the first issued by Topps since the 1953 set. Topps used a color scheme for each team’s cards, but it was different than the scheme they used in ‘the ’66, ’68, and ’69 sets. Cards in the high-numbered 7th series are more difficult to find, due to limited distribution that late in the season.

Among the cards are 19 team cards (no Astros team), 20 manager cards, 43 rookie stars cards (down from 46 the previous year), 13 multi-player cards (from 11 teams), and 12 league leader cards. The World Series cards were also brought back, after not appearing in the 1966 set.

The 1967 set includes the final cards for 77 players and 3 managers, including long-time veterans such as Curt Simmons, Joe Nuxhall, Smoky Burgess (all who played since the 1940s), Lou Burdette, Johnny Klippstein, Jimmy Piersall, Whitey Ford, Vern Law, Stu Miller, Dick Groat, Bob Buhl, Bill Skowron, Earl Battey, Billy O’Dell, Ed Bressoud, Jerry Lumpe, Jim Owens, Jack Sanford, Ralph Terry, Don Demeter, Jackie Brandt, Jim Landis, Jim King, Barry Latman, Charlie Lau, Andre Rodgers, Felix Mantilla, Bob Shaw, Hal Woodeshick, Ruben Gomez, Jim O’Toole, Johnny Romano, Ozzie Virgil Sr, and Bob Uecker.

Notable rookie cards in the set are Tom Seaver and Rod Carew, as well as Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, Mark Belanger, and Sal Bando. The rookie cards for veterans Chris Short and Maury Wills also appear in this set, despite each of them having been in the league for many years.

Veteran players who had been in the majors continuously for several seasons (including 1967), but were not in the 1967 set were Lenny Green, Tony Horton, and Jay Ritchie. 1967 rookies with significant playing time who were omitted from the set include Gary Nolan, Don Wilson, Chuck Hartenstein, John Donaldson, Vern Fuller, and Bill Stoneman.

Significant errors in the 1967 set:
The first Tigers Rookie Stars card had an incorrect player photo, which was corrected on a later card.
The back of the White Sox Team card has the statistics for the Cleveland Indians.

Other quirks in the 1967 set:
As mentioned above, there was no team card for the Houston Astros.
Nine teams didn’t get a multi-player card, while two teams had two such cards.
Standard team colors were not used on the Harmon Killebrew, Twin Terrors, and Sox Sockers cards.
The final Orioles Rookie Stars card featured a red frame, while all other rookie cards had a yellow frame.
All cards had facsimile autographs except for the Milt Pappas card.
Bruce Brubaker had his own “solo” card, despite not having any prior major-league experience.