1968 Nolan Ryan -- Topps or Milton Bradley?

cards01fan said:

Sorry but can someone explain the Milton Bradley deal?

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The Milton Bradley baseball cards have the color shade of yellow as the 1967 Topps football card instead of the shade of yellow of a regular 1968 Topps baseball card.

Topps printed sheets for the Win-a-Card game that contained the football and baseball cards and the Car cards. You see white showing on the baseball cards that are off center that is the border of the football card. You also see 1967 Topps football cards that off center enough that was printed for the Win-a-Card game with the brown mesh from the baseball card. See EBAY item #271049750042.

Due to the card's placement on the sheet the white line is not a guarantee it is a Milton Bradley. If the regular baseball card was printed on the edge the white line can be visible as a Topps card and is not a MB card.

In addition, from my experience I believe all 1968 Topps Ed Brinkman and Casey Cox yellow team variations are simply MB cards. I have never seen a yellow variation of those two cards that did not have a MB/1967 Topps football yellow back. I received the MB Win-a-Card game as a gift from my aunt in 1968 and the Brinkman & Cox yellow variations were in the game. If others have the yellow variations with normal 1968 Topps baseball color backs please let me know.

So to summerize if you are confused if a 1968 Topps baseball card is a MB simply get a 1967 Topps football card and compare the color to it.

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Hi, I'm new to this message post(I was just referred because I have a 1968 Topps #110 Hank Aaron M.B. PSA 3 card on ebay) and I was amazed at the amount of information on M.B. cards. I have been aggressively buying & selling 1968 Topps M.B. cards for the last three years and I have submitted over 175 M.B.(baseball/football/hot rod) cards to PSA including several #177 Ryan RC's. Currently there are 313 PSA Baseball, 95 Football & 31 Hot Rod M.B. cards in the PSA population. There are only two PSA M.B. Registered sets(one 80% complete & the other only 6% complete). There are only three PSA 9's and just over 50 PSA 8's. These cards are very difficult to find in any condition, let alone high grade because they were part of a game"1968 Milton Bradley Win A Card" and they were handled frequently as part of playing the game. I am posting this message to let others know of my experience with M.B. cards, so as to educate any one that might be interested in trying to collect this set. In addition, I have over 50 Graded Baseball & Football M.B. cards(PSA 3-PSA 7) that are available for sale. Send PM. Anyway here is my experience:
1. Not all M.B. baseball cards have the white edge/border displayed on the front of the card(some 68' Topps appear to have the white edge/border, but
under close inspection it's not the M.B. version).
2. ALL M.B. cards have the "cheesier yellow" back versus the traditional gold color. The two 1968 Master set variation cards of Ed Brinkman and
Casey Cox "yellow team letters" are in fact M.B. cards.
3. Numerous M.B. cards are way off center or miscut. In addition, numerous cards(#113 Tiger Rookies) do not meet minimum size requirements
for PSA grading standards. These cards are not trimmed or altered(you can tell by the rough cut edges), but they don't measure up. Card
#156 World Series-Petrocelli has never been graded(I've submitted four different ones) because of the size requirement.
4. PSA has become educated on these cards, but I like to include a regular issue 1968 Topps card with my subs, so the graders can see the
different back color.
5. You can look at scans of the back, but depending on the scan quality, you sometimes can't tell for sure if it's a M.B. card until you have it
in hand.
6. M.B. football(1967) cards are easier to distinguish because a majority of them have some of the brown bordering from the '68 Baseball
cards on the front,BUT NOT ALL. Again, the back color is the true test.
7.There are numerous M.B. PSA cards that have been graded, but before PSA recognized the M.B. version, therefore they are not labeled as
such.

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[q]1968 Topps Milton Bradley Nolan Ryans

I believe I have a good opinion on the Topps Milton Bradley cards. The Nolan Ryan can be found with a white border three different places. If the white border is to the right side of the card, the Nolan Ryan side, it is definitely a Milton Bradley card. The white border can also appear on the left side, and at the top of the card. While these may be Milton Bradley's they can also be the regular 1968 Topps issue. The color of the back will tell which is which. The white border may appear because the card is on the edge of the sheet and also the bottom of the sheet.

I hope this helps clear up the controversy concerning the Milton Bradley Nolan Ryan[/q]

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