1967 Coca-Cola Yankees/Mets Baseball #5, Fred Talbot

Just last week--that's late Feb 2010--the Fleer Sticker Project blog did a great profile of Coke's various 1967 and 1968 baseball promotions. I'll link to those excellent articles after a quick look at their Yankee team set.

Bottle cap (inside)

This 35-cap set included both New York teams, with 18 Yankees and 17 Mets. Mickey Mantle's by far the biggest star and will probably cost five times the next-best player. The #5 features Fred "Bubby" Talbot, who spent 4 years in pinstripes as a back-end starter. (Full career stats.)

Bottle cap (top)

The license fee from this Coke set marked a tipping point in the future of the MLB Players Association. Make sure to read both Fleer Sticker Project posts for a great collection of product scans and historical perspective.

• 1967 Dexter Press Photos and the 1967 Coke Caps Promotion
• Coke Caps, Dexter Press, and Free Agency

Value: I picked up this cap for a few dollars from Philly Sports Cards. Stars and HOFers cost a few times more, with nice ones topping out at $15 to $20. (Mantle might well cost more.)

Fakes / Reprints: It'd be really hard to fake a bottle cap, unless you could somehow take a real cap and change the photo inside to another player. Suffice to say that I've never seen a counterfeit in the marketplace.