1968 Topps #340 Max Alvis
About Max Alvis
Card #340 sits in the fourth series of the 1968 set. Behind it is the career year Alvis had just put together at the hot corner. The season the card was issued into went the other way: 131 games, a .223 average and only eight home runs with 37 RBI, on a Cleveland club that finished third in the American League behind the pitching of Luis Tiant, Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert. Teammates laid the falloff at the door of the meningitis - Vern Fuller remembered Alvis losing muscle tone and tiring quickly, and never being the same player afterward.
Roy Maxwell Alvis, born February 2, 1938 in Jasper, Texas, was a dual-sport star at the University of Texas, a halfback and linebacker under Darrell Royal who also led the Southwest Conference in hitting at .403. Cleveland signed him in 1958, and after four minor league seasons he debuted on September 11, 1962. He took the Indians' third-base job out of spring training in 1963 and set career highs with a .274 average, 22 home runs, 67 RBI, 81 runs, 165 hits and 32 doubles, finishing 17th in the Most Valuable Player voting and taking the Cleveland writers' Man of the Year award. In late June 1964 he was hospitalized with spinal meningitis, diagnosed on a flight from Minnesota to Boston; he was back on the field in six weeks but, by his own account and his teammates', never regained the same strength or stamina. He was an All-Star in 1965 and 1967, led American League third basemen in putouts four times, and remained Cleveland's regular at the hot corner through 1968. A knee injury and surgery cut his 1969 short, and he closed out at Milwaukee in 1970, finishing nine seasons at .247 with 111 home runs, 421 runs and 373 RBI. Back home in Jasper he rose from loan officer to president of the First National Bank.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 441 | 29 | 145 | 209 | 42 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 34 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #8 American League 1967 ERA Leaders
- #12 American League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #16 Indians 1968 Rookie Stars
- #35 Steve Hargan
- #54 Stan Williams
- #71 Vern Fuller
- #94 Lee Maye
- #115 Sam McDowell
- #176 Bob Allen
- #197 Larry Brown
- #218 Ken Suarez
- #237 Alvin Dark
- #269 Bob Tiefenauer
- #295 Sonny Siebert
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #340 card?
It is card #340 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Max Alvis of the Cleveland Indians.
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.