1968 Topps #230 Pete Rose


About Pete Rose
Card #230 sits in Topps' third series of 1968, and the season around it was Rose's first as a full-time right fielder, 142 games out there after a year in left. He opened with a 22-game hitting streak, lost three weeks and the All-Star Game to a broken thumb, then ran off a 19-game streak late. He still had to go 6-for-9 over the closing days to hold off Pittsburgh's Matty Alou and win his first batting title at .335, finishing with 210 hits and 42 doubles. In the MVP vote he drew six first-place ballots and placed second behind Bob Gibson.
Peter Edward Rose Sr. (April 14, 1941 - September 30, 2024) grew up in Cincinnati and signed with his hometown Reds out of Western Hills High School in 1960, at the urging of his uncle Buddy Bloebaum, a bird-dog scout for the club. He reached the majors in 1963 and won National League Rookie of the Year, by then already carrying the nickname Charlie Hustle. A switch-hitter who played 24 seasons for the Reds, Phillies and Expos, he came up at second base and later worked in left field, right field, third base and first base, making 17 All-Star teams at an unequaled five different positions. He was the leadoff man and the engine of the Big Red Machine, taking the 1973 NL MVP award, three batting titles, two Gold Gloves and back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, then a third with the 1980 Phillies. On September 11, 1985, as Reds player-manager, he passed Ty Cobb, and he left the game with 4,256 hits, 3,562 games and 14,053 at-bats, all still records. He managed Cincinnati until August 1989, when a gambling investigation put him on baseball's permanently ineligible list. The Reds Hall of Fame took him in 2016, and Major League Baseball removed him from that list posthumously in May 2025.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · MLB.com
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 5,612 | 11 | 135 | 637 | 767 | 931 | 889 | 2,214 | 28 |
| SGC | 1,950 | 1 | 20 | 84 | 178 | 293 | 412 | 923 | 39 |
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: #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
- #247 Reds 1968 Rookie Stars
- #264 Ted Abernathy
- #283 Mel Queen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #230 card?
It is card #230 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds.
What are the key cards in the 1968 Topps set?
#177 Mets Rookie Stars - the Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman rookie card - is the grail of the set, with #247 Reds Rookie Stars (the Johnny Bench rookie) and #280 Mickey Mantle beside it. #50 Willie Mays, #110 Hank Aaron, #150 Bob Clemente, #230 Pete Rose, #45 Tom Seaver and #80 Rod Carew (second-year cards wearing the All-Star Rookie trophy), the #480 Manager's Dream combo of Tony Oliva, Chico Cardenas and Bob Clemente, and the #490 Super Stars combo of Killebrew, Mays and Mantle round out the major cards; #250 Carl Yastrzemski (his solo card the year after his 1967 Triple Crown) and #330 Roger Maris (his last Topps card as an active player) are star cards. Scarcity is mild: the sixth and seventh series (#458-598) carry only a modest premium.
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.