Wednesday, March 9, 2022

1969 Milton Bradley

The 1969 Milton Bradley set is a rare vintage set I haven't had much interest in. I'd put it above '65 Topps Embossed but not much else. Just headshot after headshot. Still, I couldn't pass up 200 or so for $20. You don't just find '60s cards for a dime. I will say that as a large lot they're a little more interesting than as individual cards.

While the biggest stars (Mays, Aaron, Clemente et al) were not in the lot, there were lots of big names. 

Some other cards I found interesting. Tony Horton never had a Topps card, so vintage cards of him are rare to come across. As you can see all the hats have been airbrushed, yet nobody got rid of the enormous Twins logo patch on Cesar Tovar's arm. As you can see, someone wrote the team name on all of the cards. The person wrote "Yankees" on Bill White's card. White never played for the Yankees but started his long announcing career for the team in 1971. So it's fun for me to have a "Yankees" card of Bill White. And I just liked Horace Clarke's sunglasses.

Another card that stood out to me was Braves catcher Hal King. I'm pretty sure that's not him in the photo. My best guess is that it's pitcher Ken Johnson. What do you think?

I had a few of these cards already so they're trade bait. Nobody was interested in trading for that '65 Mantle I posted yesterday, maybe someone will be interested in these. These are the ones without writing but they're not in great shape either.





10 comments:

  1. I can see how it would be hard to resist writing team names on these if you were a kid at that time -- I think even I would and I never wrote on my cards.

    I don't mind these. Could be worse. Could be those Globe Imports.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have in my notes that the '72 version of these differs really only in the font of the numbers on the back. You can tell by the 1's. '72 "1's" have bases, while the '68s do not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like the photos used in this set are essentially "stock footage" to be used by various publications such team program or media guide. Who's Who in baseball would use a few but not all. Sporting news publications would have their own photos.

    I had to look up Orlando McFarlane. 292 career at bats .240 BA and did not play in 1969. Odd choice for a featured player.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Bo. I'd be interested in one of the home run leaders cards with the Mantle. I have a 72 Topps Fisk rookie in decent-ish condition. Or could put together a lot of 60 Topps for you but those would be more commons/minor stars. Shoot me an email if interested.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think these are great- Horace Clarke, professional badass.

    I like the Hal King mystery too- definitely not a photo of Hal King. I think it looks too old to be Ken Johnson, though I do see the resemblance.. I thought it might be the Braves manager at the time, Lum Harris, but he doesn't look the same. Still say it's an older guy, though - maybe a coach. It's also possible that the photo is someone from another team entirely. I bet they used team yearbooks / press photos / programs to get the pictures, they obviously grabbed the wrong pic for this card.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Hal King photo is actually Jim King. His final season was 1967 with three teams.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Even the big names in this set don't generally sell for a lot, so you probably won't have too much trouble completing it at some point.

    ReplyDelete