Can you imagine how collectors must have felt ripping open the first packs of 1968 Topps baseball cards early that spring?
I mean, just a year before, Topps had issued one of the most classic and understated designs in their history, and then in 1968 … burlap?!?
Well, yeah, burlap.
All these years later, the ’68s seem to strike collectors about the same way they must have back then — we love them or … well, not so much.
No matter how you feel about the design, though, you can’t deny the 1968 set sports some of the most coveted cardboard swatches of the decade.
And that’s the purpose of this piece, to run down the most valuable 1968 Topps baseball cards, based on current PSA 7 prices according to the PSA Sports Market Report Price Guide.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon links for the cards being discussed.)
Let’s dig in, starting with …
1968 Topps Nolan Ryan Rookie Card (#177)
This is it … the Holy Grail of post-1950s baseball cards.
Now, you can’t really say that the Ryan rookie card built the hobby as we know it, or even the rookie card craze.
This Ryan stands on the shoulders of cards like 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, 1963 Topps Pete Rose, 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly, and a few others in that regard, after all.
But, man, as The Ryan Express rolled through record after record in the early 1990s, his RC — shared with fellow standout Jerry Koosman — shot through the roof. The card wasn’t rare, really, but whenever one appeared at a card show, an audible group gasp filled the air as everyone rushed to see it.
I’ve never witnessed so much cash changing hands on the back of one card as I did during that period.
The ascent of that card eventually slowed down, but the excitement it engendered never really dimmed, and it pulled all Ryan cards up to a price new level.
Today, the Ryan rookie in PSA 7 condition typically brings nearly $3000 or more. There’s not other specimen among 1968 Topps baseball cards that even comes close.
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For even more information, check out our article about detailing Nolan Ryan rookie card value through the years.
1968 Topps Mickey Mantle (#280)
This is one of the few sets he appears in where Mantle has to settle for anything less than the top spot when it comes to card values.
The 1968 Topps Mick features a classic late-career batting pose, but slides all the way to Number Two on this list, thanks to Mr. Ryan above.
Burlap Mick sells for $800-900 in PSA 7.
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1968 Topps Johnny Bench Rookie Card (#247)
For the first 20 years or so of its existence, the Johnny Bench rookie card ruled the roost of the 1968 Topps set. And why not?
Bench built a stellar career with the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s, picking up two MVP awards along the way and generally establishing himself as the greatest catcher of all-time.
Today, his RC sells for $600+ in graded NM condition.
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1968 Topps Super Stars (Mantle, Mays, Killebrew) (#490)
One of the fun things all us youngin’s used to look forward to before Interleague Play came along was seeing big names from the National League and American League all lumped together under one roof (or sky) in the middle of the summer for the All-Star Game.
Never one to miss an opportunity to make us happy, Topps was pretty good about snapping pics of these meetings and pushing them out on cardboard.
In 1967, they managed to get three of the game’s most prodigious sluggers and then treated us to this Mickey Mantle–Willie Mays–Harmon Killebrew affair in 1968.
More than 50 years later, this is a $450-500 card in PSA 7.
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1968 Topps Willie Mays (#50)
And speaking of Mays, you can never go wrong with a base card of the Say Hey Kid.
This one purports to show Willie just a couple of years past his peak (though it’s really the same pic Topps used on his 1965 card), packing a big bat over his shoulder.
Expect to pay $350-450 for one in graded NM condition.
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