1969 Topps Reggie Jackson ROOKIE #260 PSA 8.5 NM-MT+

Fans who witnessed Reggie Jackson play baseball can likely still hear the chants of his name. It did not take Oakland long to realize that they struck California gold when they signed the 22-year-old slugger. In his first season in 1968, he led the team in home runs and RBI and finished fourth in the American League in home runs. In 1969, his blazing start put him on pace to eclipse Roger Maris’s ‘61 campaign. He finished with 47 round trippers that year—a number rarely achieved by any player during the era. Thus, Oakland fans who collected cards were likely delighted to find a Reggie Jackson rookie when they ripped open a Topps Series 3 wax, cello, or rack pack in 1969, and even more so after he led the A’s to titles in 1972, ‘73, and ‘74. In 1969, Topps released a 664-card set that included Mickey Mantle’s last card and Reggie’s first, which remains the most valuable issue in the set. Topps issued three more baseball sets in 1969: (1) the Topps 48-card sticker Decals that mirrored the main set’s cards in a smaller size, (2) the Topps die-cut, black and white Deckle Edge cards with facsimile signatures, and (3) a more limited 218-card set in Canada that mirrored the main 664-card set under the O-Pee-Chee (OPC) brand. The OPC cards contain “PRINTED IN CANADA” on their flip side. Topps inserted a 24-card Deckle Edge set in the OPC packs and a 33-card Deckle Edge set in the Topps packs. Jackson has a Topps Decals issue, which were inserted in Topps Series 4 packs, but he did not appear in the Deckle Edge set since it only contained veterans like Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, and Pete Rose. Jackson also does not appear in the OPC set since it focused heavily on Montreal and Seattle players to appeal to Canadian collectors. Finding one of the Reggie RCs in the highest grades is difficult, with only 43 of the 11,703 non-Qualified examples assessed by PSA earning a higher grade than this PSA 8.5. That makes this offering one for which plenty of vintage baseball bidders will be swinging for the fences. The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 06/04/25.