Vintage Equipment: 1968 Topps

Lots of marked-up equipment in this set. Some players had last names short enough to fit nicely on their glove.

If they had longer names, they could just go with their initials.

Numbers on bat knobs were common, but Willie Horton was taking no chances, putting his name on the knob too.

Speaking of bats, for some reason either Ken McMullen or Topps blacked out the signature on his bat.

Carl Yastrzemski only wore #8 for the Red Sox. I can't tell the number on the bat knob, but it's clearly not 8.

Ed Charles is wearing jersey #5, but has bat #24. He wore both numbers during the 1967 season.

Teammate Don Cardwell's glove is #43, but he wore #27 for the Mets. This looks like spring training, and the previous season Cardwell wore #43 in Pittsburgh, and I guess hadn't updated his glove.

Dick Allen was #15 thoughout his career, but is holding bat #12. The bat would have belonged to outfielder Johnny Briggs.

Ed Brinkman was in his fifth season wearing #11 for the Senators. #56 would have belonged to a minor leaguer in spring training. Fortunately, there is a '67 Senators spring training program on eBay. #56 was used by outfield prospect Dick Billings, who would make his MLB debut in '68, would be converted to catching, and played parts of eight seasons in the major leagues. His bat made it on a card before he did.