Baseball - Best rookie cards for each position for players from the 80s and 90s

Grimster

Im always trying to put fun little sets together. It helps me keep the "fun" part of this hobby alive if I have a goal to work toward. I find that when I have a goal set and meet it....if I don't have another goal laid out then I start to lose interest

So I think I've figured out a fun "set" to work on. Most likely this will be cards in PSA 10 (within reason), taking that player's best rookie card (typically in terms of $$ value) and having it fill that slot. For example, going for the 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas as opposed to the 1990 Topps.

Anyway, for this "set" I'd like to put together the best lineup of stars from the 80s and 90s and have a backup for each position. The "rules" are that these guys need to have their rookie cards to be between 1980 and 1999 and they DONT have to be in the HOF (so McGwire is fair game, for example). I was going to split it between decades, but figured it'd be more fun if this spanned over two decades. I have a pretty good idea of who I want to fill these roles, but figured it'd be fun if I made it a forum topic as well. Fun way to wrap up the year

I'll update this list as things are discussed below :

(I also changed the pitchers to just starting and closers and change the outfield to be just one category)

Catcher
1. Mike Piazza
2. Ivan Rodriguez

First Base
1. Frank Thomas
2. Jeff Bagwell

Second Base
1. Ryne Sandberg
2. Roberto Alomar


Third Base
1. Wade Boggs
2. Chipper Jones

Shortstop
1. Cal Ripken
2. Derek Jeter

Outfield
1. Rickey Henderson
2. Ken Griffey Jr.
3.Tony Gwynn
4. Kirby Puckett
5. Vlad Guerrero
6. Barry Bonds



---Pitchers---

Starter
1. Roger Clemens
2. Greg Maddux
3. Randy Johnson
4. Tom Glavine


Closer
1. Mariano Rivera
2. Trevor Hoffman

Halonut

Catcher
1-Ivan Rodriguez 91 Topps traded Tiffany
2-Mike Piazza 92 Fleer Update

1B
1-Frank Thomas 90 Leaf
2-Jeff Bagwell 91 topps traded Tiffany

2B
1-Ryne Sandberg 83 Topps
2-Roberto Alomar 88 score R/T glossy

3B
1-Wade Boggs 83 Topps
2-Chipper Jones 91 Topps Tiffany

SS
1-Cal Ripken 82 Topps
2-Derek Jeter 93 SP

LF
1-Rickey Henderson 80 Topps
2-Barry Bonds 86 Topps traded Tiffany

CF
1-Griffey Jr 89 UD
2-Kirby Puckett 84 Fleer Upd

RF
1-Vlad Guerrero 95 Bowmans Best
2-Manny Ramirez 92 Bowman

SP (went with 4, did away with MR)
1-Roger Clemens 84 Fleer Upd
2-Randy Johnson 89 Topps Tiffany
3-Greg Maddux 87 Topps Trd Tiffany
4-Pedro Martinez 91 UD Final Edition

CL
1-Mariano Rivera 92 Bowman
2-Trevor Hoffman 92 Bowman

vintagefun

Nice project. I did something very similar when deciding which cards I wanted to collect, except I did it for each decade 50s-80s. Lo and behold, all I really needed to do was look at first ballot HOFers and over 90% of my list was there. 80s and 90s is a little trickier. It's riddled with PED users, and it was peak of speculation era. So it's tough to frame 20 years of players.

I like what halonut put down. I'd probably sub Bagwell for McGwire or Mattingly, and instead of RF, CF, LF...I just did OF. I think Ichiro needs to be in there...I'd call him RF and take out Manny.

Interested to see other selections.

Good Luck.
Jim

Dialj

Catcher
1. Mike Piazz 1992 Fleer Update
2. Benito Santiago 1986 Fleer

First Base
1. Frank Thomas 1990 Leaf
2. Jim Thome 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition

Second Base
1. Ryne Sandberg 1983 Topps
2. Roberto Alomar 1988 Score Glossy


Third Base
1. Chipper Jones 1991 Topps Desert Shield
2. Wade Boggs 1983 Topps

Shortstop
1. Cal Ripken 1982 Topps Traded
2. Derek Jeter 1993 SP

Left Field
1. Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps
2. Barry Bonds 1986 Topps Tiffany

Center Field
1. Ken Griffey Jr 1989 UD
2. Bernie Williams 1991 Fleer Ultra Update

Right Field
1. Tony Gwynn 1983 Topps
2. Ichiro Suzuki 2001 Bowman Best

---Pitchers---

Starter
1. Roger Clemens 1984 Fleer Update
2. Greg Maddux 1987 Fleer Update

Relief
1. Lee Smith 1982 Donruss
2. John Smoltz 1988 Fleer Update

Closer
1. Mario Rivera 1992 Bowman
2. Trevor Hoffman 1992 Bowman

DanBessette

We all have different criteria. No way I'd include proven PED guys like pudge, bonds, manny and Clemens. But if that's your thing, I've got plenty of cards of Clemens I'll happily sell to you real cheap.

Thomas is a no brainer at 1B, but there are several deserving candidates to join him. Too bad pujols came a little too late

The 2 second basemen are obvious, which really sucks for Biggio

SS obvious

Those are some righteous 3Bs

My OF top tier would be griffey, henderson, gwynn, Ichiro, Puckett. Undecided on the 6th

4 SPs: pedro, Maddux, johnson.

Lots of good candidates for the last spot, including Glavine, smoltz, hershiser, sabathia, Gooden, mussina, Valenzuela, Jack morris, schilling and others I'm forgetting

Totally agree with the 2 closers. Honorable mention to papelbon. Seriously, do the research.

Well that's my take.

DanBessette

Cleaning up my list a bit:

Catcher
1-Mike Piazza 92 Fleer Update
2 - posada

1B
1-Frank Thomas 90 Leaf
2-Mattingly 84 Tiffany

2B
1-Roberto Alomar 88 score R/T glossy
2-Ryne Sandberg 83 Topps

3B
1-Wade Boggs 83 Topps
2-Chipper Jones 91 Topps Tiffany

SS
1-Cal Ripken 82 Topps
2-Derek Jeter 93 SP

OF
1-Griffey Jr 89 UD
2-Rickey Henderson 80 Topps
3- Gwynn 83 topps
4- Ichiro
5- Kirby Puckett 84 Fleer Upd
6- vlad Guerrero 95 bowmans best

SP (first 3 in no particular order)
1-Randy Johnson 89 Topps Tiffany
2-Greg Maddux 87 Topps Trd Tiffany
3-Pedro Martinez 91 UD Final Edition
4-glavine/smoltz/schilling, take your pick

CL
1-Mariano Rivera 92 Bowman
2-Trevor Hoffman 92 Bowman

elsnorto

<< <i>Never ceases to amaze me the manner in which one can collect things. I never would have thought of that and it sounds like quite the interesting collection. >>



+1 and one of the reasons I dig this board & hobby.

One of the more unique collections I've come across on here was the guy building a run of cards numbered 1 through 3000... across all sports, years, releases.

Beckett did an article long ago about 101 different ways to collect... there are probably at least 3 times more than that.

Snorto~

elronmckenzie

I took a road less traveled approach with my list. Hometown bias included!

Catcher
1. Mike Scioscia - 1981 Topps
2. Jason Varitek - 1992 Topps Traded Gold

First Base
1. Alvin Davis - 1984 Topps Traded Tiffany
2. Fred McGriff - 1986 Donruss

Second Base
1. Craig Biggio - 1988 Score Traded
2. Harold Reynolds - 1986 Topps Tiffany

Third Base
1. Chipper Jones - 1991 Topps Desert Shield
2. Gary Sheffield - 1989 Upper Deck

Shortstop
1. Omar Vizquel - 1989 Topps Traded Tiffany
2. Ozzie Guillen - 1985 Topps Traded Tiffany

Left Field
1. Tim Raines - 1981 Topps Traded
2. Moises Alou - 1990 Bowman Tiffany

Center Field
1. Ken Griffey Jr. - 1989 Upper Deck
2. Eric Davis - 1985 Topps Tiffany

Right Field
1. Jay Buhner - 1988 Score Traded Glossy
2. Larry Walker - 1990 Leaf

---Pitchers---

Starter
1. Randy Johnson - 1989 Upper Deck
2. Dave Stewart - 1982 Topps

Relief
1. Rob Dibble - 1988 Score Traded Glossy
2. John Franco - 1984 Fleer Update

Closer
1. John Wetteland - 1989 Score Traded
2. Lee Smith - 1982 Topps

3BoyzTrading

I dig the thread but how are you all including Ichiro in a thread titled "Best of the 80's and 90's"..............I'd think you have to go by decade.......In addition, Ozzie Smith was the best shortstop in baseball in the 80's. A Gold Glove each year. Whereas Derek Jeter played 4 years in the 20 year span that we are discussing.

Grimster

<< <i>I dig the thread but how are you all including Ichiro in a thread titled "Best of the 80's and 90's"..............I'd think you have to go by decade.......In addition, Ozzie Smith was the best shortstop in baseball in the 80's. A Gold Glove each year. Whereas Derek Jeter played 4 years in the 20 year span that we are discussing. >>



That's true. Ichiro's MLB rookie card is 2001, so he is out of the running on this particular list. Ozzie Smith is a tough one as well since his rookie card is 1979. So technically he is out of the running on this list too.

I was trying to keep it simple. Obviously that is near impossible when one is putting together a "best of" list, especially one that spans multiple decades. If this was just a "best players at their position in the 80s and 90s" then we'd have to include many more players from the 70s and possibly 60s in there. Dave Winfield, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, Ozzie Smith, etc..etc..etc...

I guess the main purpose of this was to see the best rookie cards for each position from a period where most of them are consider "junk" and finding them in PSA 10's would be relatively cheap. Most of the ones listed can be found in PSA 10 for under $100...even their most valuable one. Of course there are others that will be unattainable for the normal person (1980 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 10) but there aren't too many of those in this list.

The other fun idea I had was how to display these cards once I end up getting all of them. I was thinking of making a fun shadow box display type thing where it looked like a baseball diamond and you have each of these graded rookie cards in their proper position. Would be fun to see. Well, more fun than just having them sitting in a card board storage box on my shelf...

Grimster

For closers I knew Mariano Rivera would be top choice. For the second choice I was debating between Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner. I have a soft spot for Billy Wagner because I watched him play in-person for the Astros for many years.

Also trying to figure out if Bagwell or McGwire should take the #2 spot for first basemen. Again...my astros "heritage" is probably playing a role here. I love McGwire though. I'll admit that I got pretty swept up with the craziness of the 1998 season like most people did.

digicat

I notice that most of the folks mentioning Frank Thomas have his 1990 Leaf card. I'd suggest his 1990 Bowman Tiffany or his 1990 Topps Tiffany. Both will cost more than the 1990 Leaf.

Grimster

<< <i>I notice that most of the folks mentioning Frank Thomas have his 1990 Leaf card. I'd suggest his 1990 Bowman Tiffany or his 1990 Topps Tiffany. Both will cost more than the 1990 Leaf. >>



You do have a point there. That's why I didn't put any years or brands in my initial list at the top. I figured we could discuss the pros and cons of the different players on the list and then we could debate the value of their cards.

I know a lot of people don't like the Tiffany or Glossy versions of the cards because they were only available in factory sets and not in packs. Others don't think that matters at all and as long as it's not an error card it should be considered (1990 Topps NNOF Frank Thomas for example would not be considered).

So many fun ways to collect ! haha.