What were the ultimate 1980's baseball Rookie Cards

jradke4 · May 30, 2016 11:44AM

I know what many are thinking we all know the key Rookie cards now but what were the key Rookies back in the day.

For example we all know we won't the best 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson. But back in 1981 everyone was hot for Joe Charboneau but now a days nobody wants one. Then we had Greg Gefferies in 1988.

So what were the key rookies for each year by Topps/Fleer/Donruss/Upper Deck. Traded sets are fine too.

I was looking to see if anyone has a set like this on the registry but couldn't find one. I would love to hear the names and cards people come up with.

SDSportsFan · May 30, 2016 2:23PM

1981 Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela, Joe Charboneau, Harold Baines, Tim Raines

1982 Cal Ripken Jr, Steve Sax, Kent Hrbek

1983 Ron Kittle, Daryl Strawberry, Ryne Sandberg, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn

1984 Don Mattingly, Daryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett

1985 Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Cory Snyder, Kirby Puckett

1986 Jose Canseco, Vince Coleman

Steve

miwlvrn · May 31, 2016 12:41PM

Originally posted by: SDSportsFan

1981 Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela, Joe Charboneau, Harold Baines, Tim Raines

1982 Cal Ripken Jr, Steve Sax, Kent Hrbek

1983 Ron Kittle, Daryl Strawberry, Ryne Sandberg, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn

1984 Don Mattingly, Daryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett

1985 Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Cory Snyder, Kirby Puckett

1986 Jose Canseco, Vince Coleman

Steve

For 1982, I remember being super thrilled as a kid to have pulled a Jorge Bell Topps RC.

epatmythes · June 1, 2016 2:36AM

A few cards I remember being super hot when I was younger and in my collecting infancy... That I have seen listed yet...

1986 Cecil Fielder
1987 B.J. Surhoff
1989 Gary Sheffield

Darin · June 1, 2016 3:17AM

In 1984 it was Daryl Strawberry. He was hyped as the next Mickey Mantle.
I bought packs and packs of Topps cards trying to pull as many as I could.

And in spring 84 nobody except for possibly Yankee fans had heard of Don Mattingly so
nobody was putting aside his cards until later that year. I had to go through all my
commons later and pull all the Mattinglys'.

VictorLaszlo · June 1, 2016 3:36AM

Summer 1987: Mike Greenwell Topps and Donruss.

Early 1988: Gregg Jefferies Donruss and Fleer.

Late summer 1989: Upper Deck Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith.

edit, I overlooked Jefferies in the OP. By late 88, Mark Grace Donruss and Fleer had a following.

miwlvrn · June 1, 2016 4:34AM

1988 Ellis Burks, Jim Abbott, Ron Gant

1989 Steve Avery

I know the OP states 1980's but I can't help but think about 1990 Kevin Maas being on this list too.

Tibor · June 1, 2016 7:14AM

If you have a collection of the Beckett Monthly guides from that era look to see
who were pictured on front/back and inside cover pages. A good
portion of them turned out to be duds after a few seasons. Almost
as if there was a curse. Some had legal issues while others had
substance abuse issues.

rexvos · June 1, 2016 11:37AM

I think the definitive 80s cards to own are

1980 Henderson
1981 Valenzuela and Raines
1982 Topps traded Ripken
1983 Boggs Gwynn and Sandberg
1983 Topps Traded Strawberry
1984 Donruss Mattingly
1984 Fleer Update Clemens Gooden Puckett
1985 Topps Olympic McGwire
1986 Donruss Canseco
1986 fleer Update Clark and Bonds
1986 Topps traded Bo Jackson
1987 Donruss Maddux
1988 Donruss Greg Jeffries
1988 fleer update john smolz
1988 score update Biggio alomar
1989 upper deck Griffey and Johnson

My apologies to anyone I over looked but living through the decade as a collector (7 yrs old in 1980) those are the ones I wanted the. And still to this day I look with all with great fondness

lightningboy · June 3, 2016 3:45AM

The 1981 Fernando Topps rookie was an historic card from what I remember. It was the first time a card was valued at $1 or more in the year of its issue for a mainstream set. I think it really set the tone for the rookie card explosion to follow (Ripken, Mattingly Strawberry etc).

cree · August 3, 2016 4:30AM

Originally posted by: rexvos

I think the definitive 80s cards to own are

1980 Henderson

1981 Valenzuela and Raines

1982 Topps traded Ripken

1983 Boggs Gwynn and Sandberg

1983 Topps Traded Strawberry

1984 Donruss Mattingly

1984 Fleer Update Clemens Gooden Puckett

1985 Topps Olympic McGwire

1986 Donruss Canseco

1986 fleer Update Clark and Bonds

1986 Topps traded Bo Jackson

1987 Donruss Maddux

1988 Donruss Greg Jeffries

1988 fleer update john smolz

1988 score update Biggio alomar

1989 upper deck Griffey and Johnson

My apologies to anyone I over looked but living through the decade as a collector (7 yrs old in 1980) those are the ones I wanted the. And still to this day I look with all with great fondness

I agree with this list. Solid!

jay0791 · August 3, 2016 8:12PM

u can add crime dog and cecil to the 86 year.

howard Johnson and andy van slyke were hot once

Patches · August 16, 2016 7:06AM

I remember 1987 Topps Rafael Palmeiro and 1987 fleer Will Clark being pretty sought after. Sorry if they were said and I missed. That's all I notice that hasnt been said already

PlayBall · August 16, 2016 12:07PM

1987 Topps Mike Greenwell, and 1989 Bowman Jerome Walton were supposed to make me rich. Sheffield was a big one too.

RedHeart54 · August 19, 2016 11:29PM

More names..

1984- Kevin McReynolds, Ron Darling, Tony Fernandez, Sid Fernandez

1985- Bret Saberhagan- especially after he won the '89 AL Cy Young award

1986 Traded/Update/Rookies- Wally Joyner, Pete Incavaglia, Cory Snyder

1987- Dave Magadan, Kevin Seitzer

1988- Chris Sabo, Alomar brothers

1989- Tom Gordon, Todd Zeile, Hensley Meulens, OZZIE Canseco, Greg Olson

milbroco · September 8, 2016 1:39AM

Not sure if it was the late 80's or not but what about the phenom Brein Taylor

estang · September 13, 2016 9:53AM

Steve did well with this below -- with some comments

1981 Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela, Joe Charboneau, Harold Baines, Tim Raines

1982 Cal Ripken Jr, Steve Sax, Kent Hrbek

1983 Ron Kittle, Daryl Strawberry, Ryne Sandberg, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn

1984 Don Mattingly, Daryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett

1985 Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Cory Snyder, Kirby Puckett

1986 Jose Canseco, Vince Coleman

Steve

-------------------------

In the moment of the season, these were the hottest cards from my recollection:

1980: George Brett cards and spilled into 1981

1981: Fernando (Topps & Fleer)

1982: Ripken (Traded and all)

1983: Ron Kittle (Fleer)

1984: Strawberry (Topps) & Mattingly (Donruss)

1985: Gooden (Topps)

1986: Canseco (Donruss)

1987: McGwire (rookie was 85 but his 87 cards were hot as was Clark & Greenwell)

1988: Jeffries (Fleer)

1989: Griffey Jr (Upper Deck)

gregmo32 · September 14, 2016 11:28AM

in 1987, Benito Santiago was a rookie catcher with a unique catching style and a 30 game hitting streak in the big leagues, and his cards were super hot in my neighborhood for a few months.

mcholke · September 16, 2016 12:42AM

1980s Rookie Showcase

I have also enjoyed the rookie cards from the 1980s and have built a PSA showcase that has over 1,300 different rookie cards from the 1980s with most of the cards listed in here featured. If you wanted some photos to go along with the memories/lists of those cards please visit the link above.

lawyer05 · September 16, 2016 6:39AM

1988 ROBERTO KELLY !!!

lawyer05 · September 16, 2016 6:40AM

1986 Bobby Bonilla !!

carkim · September 17, 2016 3:34AM

Brothers Alomar

What were the ultimate 1980's baseball Rookie Cards

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