1968 Topps #405 Tommy Helms
About Tommy Helms
Helms held down second base again in 1968, batting .288 and making his second straight All-Star team; he started that year's All-Star Game and picked up a hit and a walk in three plate appearances. He finished 25th in that season's National League MVP voting. It shows him with the Cincinnati Reds.
Tommy Helms broke in as a shortstop but made his name as one of the surest gloves the Cincinnati Reds ever ran out at second base. Signed by the Reds out of Charlotte, North Carolina in 1959, he climbed through Palatka, Topeka, Macon and San Diego before a September 1964 call-up. In 1966 the Reds shifted him from short to third to make room for Leo Cardenas and Pete Rose, and Helms won National League Rookie of the Year. Moved to second base in 1967, he made back-to-back All-Star teams and later won Gold Gloves in 1970 and 1971, leading NL second basemen in fielding percentage three times. A November 1971 trade sent him to Houston for Joe Morgan, and he closed his fourteen-year career with Pittsburgh and Boston. He later managed the Reds for parts of 1988 and 1989. He is not a Hall of Fame inductee.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 260 | 7 | 68 | 129 | 26 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| SGC | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 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
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 #405 card?
It is card #405 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Tommy Helms of the Cincinnati Reds.
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.