Hi folks. This is my third post in my series about Minnesota Twins baseball cards. Please read my first post here for deeper detail on my series.

1968 TOPPS
The 1968 Topps set is one of my personal favorites which is interesting because I find the look rather ugly, but I really like some of the Twins cards. The set’s cards are standard size, with kind of a burlap looking border. The player’s name is at the bottom with a colored circle showing his team and position. The set has a couple of my favorite multi-player cards ever and Rod Carew’s first stand-alone Topps card (#80) as well as an all-star card (#363). There are a whopping 37 Twins cards in the set.

THE BEST
With this set, I might run into a problem for my personal choice of best and favorite. There are more than a few cards to choose from that fit both categories. As far as value, both the #490 Super Stars card with Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, and the #480 Manager’s Dream card with Tony Oliva, Chico Cardenas, and Roberto Clemente rank high. I don’t always want to equate value with best, but in this case my choice for best card has to be the Super Stars card. The card has three Hall of Famers who as a group hit 1,769 home runs. Three of the top 18 HR hitters ever…on one card!! Quite a bit of firepower on one single card.

PERSONAL FAVORITE
For my personal favorite I am going to select the Rod Carew (#80). You just got to love Rod Carew’s first solo card. I like the pose and the Topps rookie cup. Like I said in a previous post about Tony Oliva, Carew just looks so young here.

And like my statement above about firepower on a single card, the AL RBI Leaders card also has three Hall of Famers in Carl Yastrzemski, Harmon Killebrew, and Frank Robinson. I really like these types of leader cards with multiple Hall of Famers. This card represents 1,611 career home runs and 5,240 career RBI. A lot of history there.

I’m going to choose the Carew as my favorite Twins card in the set, but I really, really like that Super Stars card above as well.

MOST OBSCURE PLAYER
Cal Ermer did manage a major league baseball team, but only briefly. He previously had a very limited playing career. He went 0-3 in his lone MLB game for the Senators in 1947, was a long-time coach and manager in the Senators/Twins organization, who ended up managing the Twins for part of 1967 and all of 1968. I thought he was the right choice for most obscure player/coach in the 1968 Twins set, but then I read about right-handed pitcher Moe Ogier.

Maurice “Moe” Ogier appeared on a dual rookie card (#589) with Ron Clark. Mr. Ogier made the 1968 Twins opening day roster but was sent to the minor leagues shortly thereafter to make room for Jim Kaat after Kaat was activated from the disabled list for an elbow injury dating to the prior season. Ogier didn’t pitch that season – or ever – in the major leagues. Ogier played six years in the Twins minor league system. His record was 36-37. His minor league strikeout numbers were rather good especially for that era, but his WHIP was also high. He pitched later in the Angels and Padres systems. He never made the majors, but he did have this baseball card.

While researching this post, I learned a new phrase that I had not heard before – phantom ballplayer. According to Wikipedia, a phantom ballplayer is a player who spent time on an active roster but never appeared in a game. That sounds to me like a definition for obscure. Moe Ogier is the choice here.

If you disagree with my opinions, I would love to see your opinions, criticisms, and suggestions in the comments below. Don’t be too hard on me. Let’s have fun with this!