1968 Topps #487 Lee May
Card design carries the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, marking May's selection to the 1967 Topps All-Star Rookie Team.
About Lee May
Coming off a 1967 season in which The Sporting News named him NL Rookie of the Year, May hit .290 with 22 home runs and 80 RBI in 1968, leading the Reds in homers as the club's core with Bench, Perez and Rose began to take shape. Issued in Topps' sixth print series, this card carries the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy design, marking his selection to the 1967 Topps All-Star Rookie Team.
Lee May broke in with the Cincinnati Reds and grew into one of the National League's most feared right-handed sluggers, a first baseman whose bat helped build the nucleus that became the Big Red Machine alongside Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose. Nicknamed the Big Bopper by teammate Tommy Helms, he strung together eleven straight seasons of at least 20 home runs and 80 RBI, and is one of only eleven major leaguers to post 100-RBI seasons for three different franchises. After Cincinnati traded him to Houston, then Baltimore, May kept producing power at every stop, reaching the World Series with both the Reds and the Orioles and adding an AL RBI title in Baltimore. Over an 18-year career he hit .267 with 354 home runs and 1,244 RBI, a three-time All-Star remembered as one of the game's most consistent long-ball threats of his era.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 446 | 4 | 63 | 156 | 101 | 60 | 24 | 38 | 0 |
| SGC | 38 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 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.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1968 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #574 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #23 Chico Cardenas
- #48 Ted Davidson
- #74 Milt Pappas
- #90 Vada Pinson
- #108 Don Pavletich
- #130 Tony Perez
- #133 Fred Whitfield
- #148 Dave Bristol
- #171 Don Nottebart
- #196 Gary Nolan
- #213 Chico Ruiz
- #230 Pete Rose
- #247 Reds 1968 Rookie Stars
- #264 Ted Abernathy
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #487 card?
It is card #487 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Lee May of the Cincinnati Reds.
Is 1968 Topps #487 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
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.