PSA 10 1980 Nolan Ryan By Request

CON40

RobE...

You asked me to post a nice scan of the PSA 10 80 Ryan from DSL... I got it in and have done a nice scan... click the attached link:

PSA 10 1980 Topps Ryan (maybe someone can post the image on here for me)

I have one other PSA 10 1980 Topps card, Don Baylor (an Angels card too). I put them side by side and on all counts the Ryan is nicer. It has tremendous deep color, not a single print spot in the image (a small mark in the pink flag though), the centering better (though the Ryan seems to have a nearly imperceptible tilt), and the white stock is equally bright. If I had to guess, I'd say this card was fairly graded as it has better qualities than the Baylor overall.

I welcome your opinion Rob (and anyone else's too!)

goodriddance189

edited, nevermind. trying to do the old "right click/properties/copy paste on to Image" thing but it isn't working

sjeanblanc

Hi Keith,

Very sharp 1980 Ryan!!!! DSL really screwed himself with the crappy auction scan that he used.

Scott Jeanblanc
jeanblanc@iconnect.net
Ebay UserId : sjeanblanc
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Collecting Nolan Ryan cards (68-94)

1420sports

arguably Ryans best looking card

magellan

That's a beauty Keith ! I'm assuming you won this crappy ole 80's card for less than the grading fee?

RobE

Con - I've seen 9s and 10s that have the tilt but every other aspect of the card is right on.When I look at all the other 10s it makes me scratch my head when you see that but there are 10s with a minor tilt.That's when I think of the meaning virtual.

Another thing you may like to take in as food for thought is that - I took what I thought was probably the worst star 10 and had it reviewed.They called me back and said it's a 10 and refunded everything.I figured if PSA feels that way then I have nothing to argue about the quality of the card.On the other hand however,the collector might disagree with the 3rd party opinion when they are noticing the virtually perfect point of a 10 instead of what a collector might think of as a perfect 10.Also,you will often see a print spot every now and then on every grade so don't let those crack you.

At the end of the day you have a pretty good card there if you can tolerate the centering and everything else matches the standard and allowances for a 10.

speeder

here ya go, nice card !!

ctsoxfan

I like the card as well, but in comparison to the many 1980 10's that I have, the centering seems a bit off L/R. Not terribly, but it is worth noting. However, it looks to have great color and sharp focus, clean chip-free borders, and I would bet the corners are razors. It is a nice card indeed.

RobE

Luckily I took a minute to examine a the corners and like to note you are equally as bad as me with a scanner but that's not so bad.You can clearly see the card has some real razor sharp corners.That is as seemingly consistent with all PSA 10s.I think the main consistent things for 80 10s is no paint chipping and sharp corners.Don't ever recall finding any major alarming corner issues.As for the print dots or the occasional fisheye,zits,one or two might slip by,but to me that looks like a 10 anybody would like to own just because it's Nolan Ryan or to put in their set or whatever.Heh.I wouldn't mind owning it myself. (Dreaming of course)

When I wound up upgrading the 580 from an 8 to a 9 (as things got slow for set-building) I looked at quite a few 9s to go further into a better example of the star cards.Interestingly,the one locked up in the retired set looked better for stock,centering,nice clean surface & borders.The thing that urked me about it was the rear centering.Not a tilt, but perfectly straight and probably 90/10.That was literally the only reason I was looking to upgrade.Up against other examples most options were 55/45,a little more play on the back but a TILT,the borders were usually cream instead of snow white (Although some cream borders are tolerable to the eye).In the end,I figured my Ryan was as nice as I can get for now.After that experience I certainly appreciated the card and its grade more after compairing other 9s.

You are lucky to have a nice example of this card, mid way through Nolan's career. and many other reasons.

CON40

Thanks for all the feedback! I see all my Ryans through rose colored glasses, so I appreciate the unbiased opinions...

Rob and Soxfan, you are right about the centering (53/47 side to side?) and I saw that slight slight tilt early on... but, let me tell you that the color and clean printing on this card is unparallelled in any other 1980 Ryan I've had (maybe 30 copies between graded and raw over the years)... I think this is the deciding factor in why it got the 10. Personally, I can live with the centering as it is well within tolerance for the grade and since the borders have rounded corners and irregular shapes because of the flags, the tilt is barely a factor. The corners are razors, and there are two very very minute chips along the edges (I'm being real picky now). The back is centered about 70-30 top to bottom and 55-45 side to side with perfect edges all the way around.

I just love looking at this photo when it is printed with such color and clarity. Bottom line... I am very happy with the card.

Thanks again for your opinions!