1968 Nolan Ryan -- Topps or Milton Bradley?

[Field Level View]

I was talking to someone at the National about my 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan RC and they mentioned that it might be the Milton Bradley due to the line down the side.


I finally located it today, and wanted to get some more ideas from you guys.

The back:

 

[200lbhockeyplayer]

It's really about the coloring overall when compared to the regular issue.

If the white line was on the bottom or right of the card, it would certainly be a Milton Bradley, but the Ryan/Koosman was located in the bottom left corner of the printing sheet...so white on the top and left can be common.

..I think.

 

[morgoth]

100% sure that is a Milton Bradley due to that white stripe down the side. Edit, ok maybe not 100% but all the ones I have seen in person have that stripe.

 

[mudflap02]

I used to know this.

Bouwob should know, hope he sees this thread.

 

[cards01fan]

Sorry but can someone explain the Milton Bradley deal?

 

[timfsu2k]

Sorry but can someone explain the Milton Bradley deal?

The cards came in a Milton Bradley board game called "Win a Card". The cards were inserted inside the game in a cellophane pack I believe. I am pretty sure that football cards could also be found in the game. The game actually came out in '69 and the total number of different cards from the '68 set that you had a chance to find in the game was in the 70s IIRC.

 

[BunchOBull]

To add a little more...the Milton Bradley's often have a white border due to the fact that the sheet used to print the game set also included football, among other, cards side by side with the burlap finish. The result was that slightly miscut cards had a white edge.

 

[exigussrex]

Looks like your Ryan RC is slabbed. What does the PSA label say? Shouldn't they be able to tell?

 

[cards01fan]

Thanks for the info. What is the price difference between them?

 

[Field Level View]

The slab says 1968 Topps. That said, I've seen MB cards have that slab also. For a while PSA wasn't differentiating between them, and I'm not sure how to tell when mine was slabbed.

 

[Field Level View]

Bouwob out there anywhere?

 

[TNP777]

I'm damn near 100% sure that's a Milton Bradley. Why am I so sure? 'Cause there was an EPIC thread on CU. By the end of the thread, everyone but the OP was an expert on '68 MB Ryans. When combined with the thickness of the burlap "border", the straight white line to the left of the card is a huge tell, as is the color of the card's back.

I'll find a good definitive post on how to recognize a '68 MB, but in the meantime, here's the link to the CU thread:

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=865960

edit: here's a little blurb I found:

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.

more:

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.

and some more... with pichers!

[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]

 

[Field Level View]

So my question then becomes:

Do I want to resubmit this back to PSA for grading (presumably uncasing it and risking it dropping to a PSA 5), or just leave it as is?

 

[TNP777]

If it's labeled as a Topps Ryan and you think you might unload it someday, then you should have it relabeled. I'm not a PSA member so I'm not absolutely sure, but I think you can have it reholdered due to "mechanical error" - something like that.

What's it graded at now? MBs do carry a premium, so you might be ok even if you ask to have it re-graded as well.

 

[Field Level View]

Right now it's a PSA 6. The whole reason this came up wasn't to resell, it's because I was talking (now I want to say it was with Bouwob) at the FCB meet at the National, and we were talking about my Ryans and this came up. At the time, I had misplaced the card (found it yesterday).

I'm going to do a better scan of the front and back next week, once I get moved and unpacked.

I don't want to sell it, the only reason I want to know is because that way I know which I have and which I need to save tons of money on (oh god, the OPC and Venezuelan)

 

[bouwob]

Sorry to bring up a very dead thread.

Also including a few boards where the topic has been brought up.


http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=907242
--PSA thread--
I may be treading on water by posting a link to another board but I wanted to get the advice of PSA experts

See the following thread on FCB for more info, I will link back to this thread from there.

http://www.freedomcardboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116377&p=1858693#post1858693

Please see ebay or FCB for more examples of PSA graded versions.

The nolan ryan card in the topps sheet was in the bottom left corner of the sheet (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=156261, this was the sheet that was auctioned off (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Topps-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557)). The copy I have with the more orange background has the white stripe on the ryan side. Does anyone have more information on this set? I would assume that since the position of the ryan card in the Topps sheet would be that the the white on the kooseman side would be a topps miscut and the white on they ryan side would be a milton bradley.

What are your thoughts?
---end psa thread---

In my opinion and I know more about this card than 99.999% of Americans but that amounts to about nothing. I would not buy a copy with a white line on the kooseman side as it is more likely to be a Topps miscut. The true identifier will be the background color as it tends to be a bit different than the topps version in color. My copy over the 7 or so copies that I own tend to have the color distinction (assuming the one I own that has the back covered in crayon doesn't count ). My card couldnt possibly be a miscut due to the position of the card. It is either a truemilton bradley or a fake?

Fortunately for you, PSA will grade either or. The downfall is that true Ryan collectors will only buy grades with the white line on the ryan side (IMO). The upside is that there are only about 5 of us that actually reseaches the crads before we buy on a modern player.