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80 (+20) top cards of the 1980's - Mike Payne
NGS428
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The January 2019 #154 edition of Beckett baseball proposed the cards 1-80 and then on their website they listed 81-100 at https://beckett.com/news/top-1980s-baseball-cards/. I didn't see a specific thread on this list.
Thoughts? Comprehensive? Big misses? Sorry about the formatting if the table is not clear.
Some additional ones I have on my list...
1987 Topps Barry Larkin
1989 Topps 647 Randy Johnson
1981 Topps 479 Tim Raines
1982 Topps 452 Lee Smith
1987 Fleer 204 Barry Larkin
1988 Score 638 Tom Glavine
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
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What is this supposed to represent? Top cards then, now, at some specific point in time? My initial thought is if these are the most important cards, then the list is at least twice as long as it should be.
I just can’t see how any 1987 Topps card could be considered important, same with any late 80’s Topps or Donruss Cards
. I mean what’s the number like 5 million each were made?
Mike Payne works at Beckett. He also did the list for 300 great Baseball cards of the 20th century.
I collect hall of fame rookie cards, https://www.instagram.com/stwainfan/
1984 Fleer Glenn Hubbard. Stop.
Andy
I think that was #86, mainly because of the snake... mike must love snakes
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
I can't believe there's no 1989 Donruss Alex Madrid. A gem mint 10 copy of that card is worth $500,000. I'm disappointed.
I bought mine for only $2,500. Deal of the century.
In all honesty, we each have our own priorities and experiences when it comes to collecting. Finding a single list for the top cards is tough...
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
I got through 1980 and would say they swung and missed right out of the gate. The 1980 Nolan Ryan is one of the nicest looking cards of the set and I am not sure why brett would take a spot before Ryan. Although not a bad looking card, the 79 Brett far exceeds the eye appeal for me at least.
As with any list, highly subjective and often these lists are mostly loaded with the most valuable rookie cards, but given that this list is the era of overproduction, eye appeal for me is the top qualifier.
I know none of them have rookie cards in the 80's but I feel like Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, and Gary Carter all deserve some recognition on a list like this
For example, do we really need the 1984 Topps, Topps Nestle, and Topps Tiffany Mattingly all on the list?
86T for Carter, I'd have to think harder for Nolan and Schmidt.
The 81T Schmidt is a great looking action shot.
And the 82T Ryan is ill.
Andy
Sold on the Nolan (love that era of Astros unis), but there has to be a better Schmidt.
ETA: Several late 80s Schmidt cards are great - 88T Big, 88S #657, 87D HL, or the 88F #636 could cover both Carter and Schmidt.
Just skimmed the list after stopping short after 1980 the other day. 1986 Fleer Mickey Matcher? Giant glove Hatcher I presume. It was a fun card for a kid to see back then, but a top 100 card of the decade? Nah, same goes for the Hubbard snake, Flannery suftboard, Johnstone Bud umbrella hat and some other oddball photos that were used in that era.
How about that 1982 K-Mart MVP Maury Wills card? HA! Was it that amazing to see that card, when Topps used it for the 75Topps MVP subset before. That set was terrible, made worse by some of the most over production activity we've ever seen. K-Mart couldn't give the sets away, eventually selling them for something like a dime each! it still isn't worth the postage you'd have to pay to ship it, even though it is loaded with greats and HOFers. If anything, that Drysdale card from the set is a nice action shot and deserves best card of the set at least.
Hubbard is on there for uniqueness
Doubles as a mascot card too.
The Hubbard is #86 and can be found at the link in my first post. Yeah, all about the snake.
Mascot card... you bet it would be!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Hubbard got noted twice, both in the first 80 and #86 in the supplemental.
ETA: Wait, 81-100 all appear to already be in the table in the first post?
Yes, there are 100 cards in the first post. Beckett published 80 in their print edition and then the last 20 online at the link I posted.
Here is the ranked list....
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
It's also very strange to list the Upper Deck Sheffield as a UER without mentioning the error they DID correct.
I would have gone with Jim Abbott's 89 upper deck over the 88 topps traded
I have to agree with you. Nicer card and he didn’t play in the majors in 1988, so a 1989 card works for me as a RC.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
The reason for Brett in 1980 is because that is the season he hit .390 and had a chance to become the first player since Williams to hit .400.
Why is the card from the Kmart set in there? I musta had a dozen of those back in the day?
I suppose filling a list of 100 cards from the 1980s could be tricky, without loading it with junky cards nobody cares about anymore. Maybe some of these were talked about when they were new, but are they still "top" cards just because they were talk of the town for a week in 1984? Maybe 100 most memorable cards would be more fitting.
The K-Mart card is a card that never was. That set included the MVP of each league each year showing their Topps card. Wills had no Topps contract so there was no ‘62 Topps Maury Wills. One was mocked up for the ‘75 Topps MVP cards but it had both ‘62 MVPs on it. This was the first solo card of Wills showing the ‘62 Topps card that does not exist.
1987 Donruss Bo Jackson is one I figured would make that list. Love that card.
PC Walter Payton - Bear Down!
That's really interesting, In all the Becket magazines I read back then, I'm surprised they never did an article on it.
I think Baseball Card Magazine wrote something about it back in the day. I remember seeing a photo or somebody adding it to the back of their binder of their ‘62 set. I know the K-Mart set was overproduced and worthless but as a kid I liked looking through it and seeing the old Topps cards of the MVPs. I actually still know the MVP by year for that period of time because I can picture their Topps card from looking through the set so many times. My brother and I were at the HOF recently and a trivia question came up on who was the only MVP whose name started with a Z. We both looked at each other and said Zolio Versalles 1965 and pictured his ‘65 Topps card because of that set. Pre internet it was a cool resource for us. We were hoping for a set the following year with the Cy Youngs.