One of the most enjoyable parts of running Dean's Cards.com is the process of building complete sets for our customers because it gives us a chance to exercise our card collector muscles again. We love the challenge of hunting down the rare cards to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.
In fact, just today we were able to build a 1963 Topps baseball complete set. The 1963 set includes 576 cards, 32 of whom are Hall of Fame players. The 1963 Topps set also includes rookie cards for Pittsburgh Pirates great Willie Stargell and the controversial leader of the Big Red Machine, Pete Rose.
The 1963 Topps can be a very frustrating set to try to build because of an oddity with the production of the cards in the first three series produced that year. The number of cards produced during series one through three far outnumber the population of cards in Series 4 through 7. The 1963 Topps set is also unique among vintage baseball cards sets in that it has officially two “high numbered” series (the 6th and 7th ), starting with card #447.
As opposed to building many other sets, the unique problem with the 1963 Topps set is not the scarcity of the high number cards, but the abundance of the first 283 cards in the set. For some reason, Topps greatly overproduced the cards in Series 1 through 3 in 1963 - which are the cards numbered 1 to #283.
Regardless, the challenge of building vintage card set is an enjoyable one. And today's work with our 1963 Topps set was no different.
Finally, for collectors who enjoy the process of building sets themselves, please visit Dean's Cards.com for to find your hard to find missing pieces of the puzzle.
What does the owner of Dean's Cards collect for fun? This year it is the 1969 Topps Baseball card set - completely autographed. I have posted the set online so everyone can enjoy it. Please click here to view the Autographed 1969 Topps baseball card set.
The mailman just delivered the June 4th copy of the Sports Collectors Digest. The cover story and featured set is this issue is my personal favorite – the 1969 Topps Set. T.S O’Connell was kind enough to ask me to help contribute to his 1969 Topps baseball card article.
SCD also published a short article my me about my 1969 Topps autographed set. It was a total surprise to me. Please feel free to check it out.
I am not sure that I will ever get the set completed, but it sure has been fun. I have posted scans of the partially completed 1969 Topps Baseball Card set online for everyone’s enjoyment.
Six of my favorite 1969 Topps autographed cards include:
#95 Johnny Bench’s Topps All-Star Rookie Card signed in pen. This is my personal favorite of all of Bench's cards. Take notice of the #55 on his jersey. The uniform that Bench is wearing is the home jersey that the Reds wore up through the 1966 season. This photograph was most likely taken in spring training of 1966 when Bench was 18 years old.
#147 Leo Durocher - I admire the time and care that Leo took in signing the card. Leo was once described as the “most hated man in baseball”. Although “Leo the Lip” looks fairly tame on his 1969 card, he was known for his combative nature. As a player, Leo would constantly get into fist fights with players, umpires and fans. (To Leo's credit, he never came to blows with the peanut vendor.) In 1969, his Cubs were in 1st place by 5 games on Sept 1st. The Cubs went 8-17 during the month and finished 8 games behind the Mets. Someday, after everyone that knew him personally is dead and gone, Leo may make it into the Hall-of-Fame.
# 215 Rico Petrocelli – A nice pen signature. Rico had his career in 1969 and set an AL record with most HR’s by a Shortstop with 40. His fielding average that year was a .981, so he could not have been that bad of a fielder. The poor guy only finished 7th in voting for the MVP. Great year Rico!
#260 Reggie Jackson – Look at this signature! I love (hate) this card, because it seems to go with everything that we read and hear about this guy. Who else (Willie Mays excluded) would have the guts to deface his expensive rookie card with a signature like this? I guess that they were not paying Reggie enough money at this particular show. That said, Jackson did have a great year in 1969. The 23 year old Jackson hit 47 HR’s and had 118 RBI’s.
#601 Tug McGraw – You can’t talk about 1969, without including at least one of the 1969 Amazing Mets. The 24 year old McGraw had a break out year in 1969 and helped the Mets pull off a major upset. Up to that point, the Mets would not let him throw the screwball. I am missing quite a few of the Mets 1969 Topps autographed cards from my set. It is not that they are hard to find. They are not. There have been many cards shows featuring this team. They are expensive!
#573 Jim Palmer - This was my favorite card as a kid. I always wore my index finger outside my glove because of this card. Most fans do not realize that Palmer's carreer was considered finished. Jim hurt his arm in 1967 and did not pitch in the majors in 1968. He was left unprotected for the first two rounds of the 1969 expansion draft, but even these start-up teams were afraid to take a chance on him. Palmer bounced back and went 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA in 1969 and was on his way to the Hall-of-Fame.
I currently have 546 cards autographed by different players, with 134 more to obtain. 42 of the players that appear in the 1969 Topps set are currently in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame and 116 are now deceased. Click Here to view the whole 1969 Topps autographed set.
I just adjusted the pricing of the 1969 Topps Baseball Cards that Dean's Cards has in stock and made the following observations that you might find interesting.
The 1st Series of the 1969 Topps Baseball Cards are definitely the most populated. The nice thing about this is that the league leaders cards are relatively easy to acquire. 1969 has some of my favorite league leaders cards.
The #47 C Paul Popovich error card with “C” on the helmet is hard to find and worth more than most price guides give it credit for.
The scarcest team to find is the Mets – because of their World Series victory. 1969 Topps cards of the Mets players are extremely difficult to find, with the exception of J.C. Martin.
Less scarce, but still difficult to find are guys who played for the Cubs and Tigers.
When we are building 1969 Topps sets, we are often missing the World Series Cards.
The 1969 Topps Last Series is not as tough as most years, but some of the cards sell for more than the Beckett Price Guide gives them credit for. It often depends on the card. Some High # cards we have dozens of, but others we have none.
We always seem to be missing the Rollie Fingers Rookie Card when we are building sets.
The white letter variations are greatly under priced by both Beckett and SCD Price Guides. These cards are harder to find than a purple unicorn.
Another interesting note is that Dean's Cards sponsors the 1969 Topps Blog . This is one of my favorite blogs and is a great read if you have not seen it. We donated about a dozen cards that we have 14 or more quantity in that particular condition. Among them was the Rod Carew All-Star card and the Pete Rose card. I was very surprised that we have that many of Pete.
One of the most enjoyable parts of running Dean's Cards.com is the process of building complete sets for our customers because it gives us a chance to exercise our card collector muscles again. We love the challenge of hunting down the rare cards to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.
In fact, just today we were able to build a 1963 Topps baseball complete set. The 1963 set includes 576 cards, 32 of whom are Hall of Fame players. The 1963 Topps set also includes rookie cards for Pittsburgh Pirates great Willie Stargell and the controversial leader of the Big Red Machine, Pete Rose. 
As opposed to building many other sets, the unique problem with the 1963 Topps set is not the scarcity of the high number cards, but the abundance of the first 283 cards in the set. For some reason, Topps greatly overproduced the cards in Series 1 through 3 in 1963 - which are the cards numbered 1 to #283.