After the 1961 Fleer set, there was no major production of cards until 1969. It wasn’t until this year that Topps produced its first basketball set. Technically, there was a 1968 Topps Test set made before the 1969 Topps, but it was never released to the public (note: these cards are extremely rare and carry a high premium). These cards are known as tall boys due to how long the cards are in length (2 ½ by 4 11/16 inches). Because of this, it was tough for collectors to keep these cards in pristine condition. At this time, the hobby of card collecting had just started, so there weren’t many ways to protect these cards.
This set is quite interesting because of how the cards look. The front features silhouettes of players on the outer parts of the card with the main player being in color and in the middle. The player’s name and position is on the top of the card and the player’s team city is on the bottom.
The back of these cards contains red, white, and blue colors. The writing is in blue ink and shows a card number, player’s vital stats, description of their career, and basketball stats. Directly underneath is a ball going into a hoop with a silhouette player in the middle of the ball.
Notable Cards:
Lew Alcindor #25
Alcindor was one of the most dominant centers of all-time. This card is considered his rookie card and he is shown wearing a green shirt with a white collar. There is one Alcindor card out of the 1968 Panini Tuttosport set that is a pre-rookie card. It’s rare and is the only card that shows him before his rookie year.
Lew Alcindor has an impressive resume which includes 6 NBA championships and 6 MVP awards. He also averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds throughout his entire 20 year career.
Lew Alcindor is also known as Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He is renowned for his famous skyhook which was nearly impossible to block.
Wilt Chamberlain #1
Wilt Chamberlain averaged 30 points and 22 rebounds a game over his entire 15 year career. During this time, Chamberlain was a 2x NBA champ, 4x MVP, 7x scoring champ, and also once won the assist champ title as well. He also once scored 100 points in a single game!
One fact about Wilt Chamberlain that most people don’t know is that he was not only inducted in the basketball hall of fame but also in the volleyball hall of fame. It’s cool how a player of this calibur gets to be the first card in the set.
1969 Topps Basketball Checklist
One interesting tidbit to note is that the checklist from the set is worth lots of money if it’s in excellent condition and not written on. It’s a tough card for set collectors to get since they were often thrown away or written on.
There are 99 cards in this set and they are all listed by card number down below:
1 Wilt Chamberlain
2 Gail Goodrich
3 Cazzie Russell
4 Darrall Imhoff
5 Bailey Howell
6 Lucius Allen
7 Tom Boerwinkle
8 Jimmy Walker
9 John Block
10 Nate Thurmond
11 Gary Gregor
12 Gus Johnson
13 Luther Rackley
14 Jon McGlocklin
15 Connie Hawkins
16 Johnny Egan
17 Jim Washington
18 Dick Barnett
19 Tom Meschery
20 John Havlicek
21 Eddie Miles
22 Walt Wesley
23 Rick Adelman
24 Al Attles
25 Lew Alcindor
26 Jack Marin
27 Walt Hazzard
28 Connie Dierking
29 Keith Erickson
30 Bob Rule
31 Dick Van Arsdale
32 Archie Clark
33 Terry Dischinger
34 Henry Finkel
35 Elgin Baylor
36 Ron Williams
37 Loy Petersen
38 Guy Rodgers
39 Toby Kimball
40 Billy Cunningham
41 Joe Caldwell
42 Leroy Ellis
43 Bill Bradley
44 Len Wilkens
45 Jerry Lucas
46 Neal Walk
47 Emmette Bryant
48 Bob Kauffman
49 Mel Counts
50 Oscar Robertson
51 Jim Barnett
52 Don Smith
53 Jim Davis
54 Wally Jones
55 Dave Bing
56 Wes Unseld
57 Joe Ellis
58 John Tresvant
59 Larry Siegfried
60 Willis Reed
61 Paul Silas
62 Bob Weiss
63 Willie McCarter
64 Don Kojis
65 Lou Hudson
66 Jim King
67 Luke Jackson
68 Len Chappell
69 Ray Scott
70 Jeff Mullins
71 Howie Komives
72 Tom Sanders
73 Dick Snyder
74 Dave Stallworth
75 Elvin Hayes
76 Art Harris
77 Don Ohl
78 Bob Love
79 Tom Van Arsdale
80 Earl Monroe
81 Greg Smith
82 Don Nelson
83 Happy Hairston
84 Hal Greer
85 Dave DeBusschere
86 Bill Bridges
87 Herm Gilliam
88 Jim Fox
89 Bob Boozer
90 Jerry West
91 Chet Walker
92 Flynn Robinson
93 Clyde Lee
94 Kevin Loughery
95 Walt Bellamy
96 Art Williams
97 Adrian Smith
98 Walt Frazier
99 Checklist
