1968 Topps #81 Larry Jackson
Also printed for the 1968 Milton Bradley Win-A-Card game; those look-alikes have a brighter yellow back and often a thin white line along one front edge.
About Larry Jackson
Jackson's 2.77 ERA in 1968 was the best on the Phillies staff, though his record read 13-17. At 37 he was left unprotected and Montreal took him in the October expansion draft, but Jackson, who had asked to be sent to a West Coast club closer to his Idaho home, retired instead; Philadelphia later shipped Bobby Wine north as compensation. Card 81 is a first-series issue. It is one of 77 low-series 1968 cards Topps also printed for the Milton Bradley Win-A-Card game, so a look-alike exists: the game cards have a brighter yellow back where the regular issue is gold, and many show a thin white line along one edge of the front.
Lawrence Curtis Jackson, born June 2, 1931 in Nampa, Idaho, was a right-handed pitcher who spent 14 major league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Philadelphia Phillies from 1955 to 1968. A junior college All-American tailback at Boise Junior College, he signed with the Cardinals in 1951 and reached St. Louis in 1955. He was an All-Star in 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1963 - the first Idaho native so honored, which moved the state's governor to send a sack of potatoes to every National Leaguer - and he won at least 13 games in each of his last 12 seasons. His best year came in 1964 with the Cubs: 24-11 with a 3.14 ERA and runner-up in the Cy Young voting. He retired with a 194-183 record, a 3.40 ERA and 1,709 strikeouts, the most National League wins since 1900 by any right-hander who never played for a first-place team. Rather than report to the expansion Montreal Expos, he went home to Boise, served four terms in the Idaho Legislature and ran for governor in 1978. The Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame elected him in 1971 and Boise State's athletic hall in 1982. He died in Boise on August 28, 1990.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Cardboard Connection
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 274 | 13 | 82 | 131 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #477 Philadelphia Phillies
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- #1 National League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #7 National League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #9 National League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #11 National League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #17 Dick Hall
- #39 Cookie Rojas
- #59 Don Lock
- #98 Gary Sutherland
- #112 Woody Fryman
- #122 Gene Mauch
- #139 Chris Short
- #173 John Boozer
- #190 Bill White
- #217 Turk Farrell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #81 card?
It is card #81 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Larry Jackson of the Philadelphia Phillies.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.