1968 Topps #247 Reds Rookie Stars - Johnny Bench / Ron Tompkins
On this card: Johnny Bench, Ron Tompkins
Johnny Bench rookie card, Reds Rookie Stars with Ron Tompkins.
About this card
Thirty Rookie Stars cards carry two players each on a horizontal front. The class is headlined by the two Hall of Fame rookies, #177 Nolan Ryan (with Jerry Koosman) and #247 Johnny Bench (with Ron Tompkins), with #384 Hal McRae (with Bill Henry) the other rookie card collectors chase.
The story on this card
The 1968 Topps #247 is Bench's rookie card, a third-series Reds Rookie Stars card shared with Ron Tompkins, and one of the set's two Hall of Fame rookie cards with #177 Nolan Ryan. After a .163 trial in 1967, the 20-year-old caught 154 games in 1968, a record for a rookie catcher, hitting .275 with 15 home runs and 82 RBI. He made the All-Star team and became the first catcher to win Rookie of the Year and the first rookie catcher to win a Gold Glove. Johnny Bench was Cincinnati's Hall of Fame catcher, a fourteen-time All-Star and two-time NL MVP who won ten straight Gold Gloves and anchored the Big Red Machine to World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.
1968 Topps #247 is the reason most collectors know the name: the Cincinnati Reds Rookie Stars card Tompkins shares with Johnny Bench, one of the set's two Hall of Fame rookie cards. The card is Bench's rookie card, not a second one for Tompkins, whose own had already been issued two years earlier; and the Hall of Fame flag this card carries belongs to Bench, never to the pitcher listed beside him. A San Diego-born right-hander who reached the majors with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965 and the Chicago Cubs in 1971, pitching fifty innings across two seasons without ever winning a big-league game.
Sources: Wikipedia (Johnny Bench) · Wikipedia (Ron Tompkins) · SABR BioProject
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 14,032 | 17 | 218 | 1,193 | 1,657 | 2,548 | 2,296 | 6,018 | 85 |
| SGC | 5,883 | 3 | 37 | 171 | 436 | 672 | 1,177 | 3,196 | 191 |
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
- #264 Ted Abernathy
- #283 Mel Queen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #247 card?
It is card #247 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Bench and Ron Tompkins. Thirty Rookie Stars cards carry two players each on a horizontal front. The class is headlined by the two Hall of Fame rookies, #177 Nolan Ryan (with Jerry Koosman) and #247 Johnny Bench (with Ron Tompkins), with #384 Hal McRae (with Bill Henry) the other rookie card collectors chase.
Are there two versions of the Bench rookie?
TCDB catalogs a first-line "tne Reds" / "the Reds" pair on #247, but PSA does not split it, so the Bench rookie is tracked as one card here.
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.