Ken Hubbs

Hidden Highlight: The 1962 Topps Ken Hubbs Flexichrome Artwork from the 1995 NSCC Auction

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The 1995 National Sports Collector’s Convention Auction featured some remarkable items, including the 1962 Topps Flexichrome artwork for card 461, Ken Hubbs’ rookie card, tucked away as lot 169.

Here’s the lots full description:

1962 TOPPS ORIGINAL FLEXICHROME ARTWORK FOR CARD # 461 KEN HUBBS ROOKIE
4 1/2 inch by 5 1/2 inch original one of a kind flexichrome for Ken Hubbs, “Rookie Of The Year” in 1962, killed in a plane crash in 1964, multicolored artwork comes with the 1962 Topps card final process #461, artwork is in perfect condition with no defects.
MINIMUM BID: 200.00

Guernsey’s doesn’t appear to have sold it in their famous Topps Auction in 1989, but I may have missed it in that catalog. If you know the flexichrome’s provenance, let me know!

Finally, here’s a super clean copy of the final card, a PSA 9 that REA sold for $510 in May 2022.

And don’t forget to check out The Original Artwork Archive for more items like these!

The 1966 Topps Dick Ellsworth Card – Baseball’s Biggest Card Blunder?

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Perhaps the biggest mistake a card company can make is depicting the wrong player, but is the 1966 Topps Dick Ellsworth card the worst example? This card mistakenly pictures a teammate who had been deceased for 2 1/2 years.

In 1966, Topps made its most embarrassing blunder by mistakenly picturing Chicago Cubs pitcher Dick Ellsworth’s former teammate, Ken Hubbs, who had tragically died 2½ years earlier in a plane crash. Hubbs, a rookie Gold Glove winner and Rookie of the Year in 1962, perished at 22 while trying to overcome his fear of flying in February 1964.

I can’t imagine Ellsworth, who played for 13 seasons and has Topps cards issued every year between 1960 and 1971, is a big fan of this one. And Topps should have caught it; Ellsworth was a lefty, and the image of Hubbs on Ellsworth’s 1966 Topps card was a carryover of Hubbs from inside the little circle of his 1963 Topps card.