Short answer: I dunno.
Long answer: The info on how long a player needed to be on a ML roster before getting a Topps card is pretty inconsistent over they years and Topps obviously had workarounds for Rookie Star multi-player cards and the like. So a requirement a player be on a ML roster for 30 days or after a certain date (as per past practice) seemingly didn't apply to Hubbs. (Or Roy Campanella in 1959) so I have to think it's possible a special arrangement was in place.
Hubbs is in the highs (7th series ), so it seems odd he wasn't pulled as he died in February, seemingly well before that series was plotted out as they had time to add the In Memoriam and write specifics on the reverse.
Umbricht maybe caught them off guard and they only had time to correct text on the reverse, which must have been close to when the fronts were printed (backs were printed first but front art likely locked in), just after his death date, so the 4th series seems to have been an April production. Consistency with Topps was always squirrely but maybe someone realized internally they should do more for Hubbs after Umbricht's death.
1969 Mantle, while not a death as he retired on 3/1/69 IIRC, so too late to pull his card in '69. That makes me think the 5th series was already locked in by his retirement date. Topps stared production earlier and earlier every year it seems but some of this stuff doesn't line up.
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