So they made sure they cleared that up with several variations ranging from black scribble, to red and green-tinted cover to complete blackout of the sign. And so on. But the best thing that the 82 set had going for it was this very affordable Cal Ripken Jr. RC. Gary Wade peered through the glass case at some vintage baseball cards. Youll notice the same image used for this card also appears on Bos Topps Traded card. The photographer and the entire Fleer printing team did not miss this. 25 Most Valuable 1980 Topps Baseball Cards - Old Sports Cards But, when you add a name like Nolan Ryan (or Rickey Henderson above) to the mix then the price only skyrockets. Well, PSA has graded and authenticated a mere 134 to date. Nolan Ryan cards, especially in high grade, remain incredibly popular among hobbyists. Cal Ripken Jr. played for the Orioles for the entire 21 years of his career. And, by default, its O-Pee-Chee cousin is also an incredibly desirable baseball card though it is much more difficult to find in top condition. Ripken was one of my favorite players as a kid and it has been nice to see this card get much more notoriety as time passes. "Honus Wagner." Sports Card Investor. His cards populate the majority of the rest, with about 100 submitted. And, like Clemens, that might cut into the value and prestige of his 1985 Fleer Rookie Card to a . Five hundred thirtyhave been found in gem mint 10 condition, which means only 10% of the population has reached the highest grade, making them relatively rare. Viewing the population report for the two makes it clear just how rarer they are than the Topps cards. . Donnie Baseball is pictured wearing a Yankees cap, which is the team he would go on to spend his whole 13-year pro career at. "10 Most Valuable 1980s Baseball Cards. And you get a Griffey Jr. RC! which would have made fun viewing. This is one of Cal Ripkens most valuable baseball cards and of the most valuable from the 80s. Even so lets just say the Braves won the trade. The leading destination for sports card and collectible enthusiasts. Thats an incredible difference in availability. Likewise, this will forever be one of the most iconic baseball cards of the 1980s. The value for a PSA 10 has yet to be determined because PSA has not found any of the 68 theyve seen worthy. "100 Most Valuable Baseball Cards: The All-Time Dream List." Baseball Reference. PSA 9 examples have sold for upwards of $6,000. He stole 80 bases in 1986, and followed that up the next season with 50 steals. Near-perfect card of a near-perfect hitter. Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? 12. He also loves to write about the hobby and has written for Beckett, Topps, SABR and of course, this website. Of the two sets, his Bowman Tiffany is more valuable, by a long shot, selling for over $2,500 in PSA 10 condition. 9. The 1983 season saw the Rookie Cards of four players break out Sandberg, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Ron Kittle. Many consider this card not only to be the most iconic card of the 1980s but one of the most important in the hobby in general. You were royalty. Of the players shown here, only one went on to set the major league record for consecutive games played, collect 3,184 hits, win two league MVP awards, play in 19 All-Star Games and earn a plaque in Cooperstown. After a 25-year hiatus, the 1985 Leaf set marked the brand's return to the hobby since they produced their last set back in 1960. That kind of of success on that stage can get a card like this released later in the season noticed. Lets be honest. A first-time All-Star and fifth-place finisher in the AL's MVP race, Mattingly's time as the face of the Yankees was here. For an era of cards that many call junk wax, the 80s have some decent cards. Investing in Sports Cards - Investopedia This particular card was graded by PSA and found to be in gem mint 10 conditions. Great job on this!!! The original printing contained a stadium Marlboro sign over the Big Units left shoulder. Many collectors prefer the 1952 card, but the 1951 Bowman is still a piece of baseball history. Nostalgia. If youre a Barry Bonds collector or an 80s baseball card collector, O-Pee-Chee cards are the way to go. Top 25 Most Valuable Baseball Cards from the 1980's - YouTube One of the pack-pulled Rookie Cards during Juniors rookie season, but it comes with a tough blend of purple and black border. The Cubs drafted him in 1982, but he left to play for eight different teams throughout his career. The Most Valuable 80s Baseball Cards - eightieskids.com This Mickey Mantle card sold for $5.2 million in 2021, in large part due to its high-quality rating and its rarity its assumed to be one of only 6 remaining versions of the card in the world. This second-year card of Gwynn may be the best looking of any of his other releases over the years. For that reason, finding a 1987 O-Pee-Chee Barry Bonds rookie in pristine condition is quite challenging, but if you do, you'll see them sell for around $12,000 or so. Valenzuela appeared alongside Joe Perconte and Mike Scioscia in the base 1981 Topps set as the three "Dodgers Future Stars" on card #302. The USA Baseball subset in 1985 Topps introduced the program to the masses, and brought this slugging first basemans first licensed trading card to the forefront of the collectibles industry. We love the '80s (and '90s) baseball cards: The top 15 sets of the era O-Pee-Chee cards can be distinguished by the O-Pee-Chee logos on the front and the back. Description. Rookie Cards were so valuable to collectors in 1989, that if Oprah had been involved in baseball cards, she would have been saying to her studio guests, You get a Griffey Jr. RC! He also picked up his only Silver Slugger award and was named to his fifteenth All-Star game, seemingly on a surefire trajectory to the Hall of Fame at that point in his career. Gibson pumping his fist in excitement as he rounded the bases is one of the most memorable moments in baseball history. And with every new season came some great and memorable cards. Three years ahead of Ccores famous 1990 Bo Jackson baseball/football shot, this card was part of classic Games introduction of a box set game with baseball card content. That said, there's no questioning how talented Clemens really was as he was mowing down opposing batters right from the beginning of his career well before the PED scandal took place. This is the sole reason it fetched a $1,740 auction price. So, despite the common misconception, some cards from that infamous hobby era still have value. Prices are updated daily based upon 1980 Topps listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. He stayed true to his word and did not sign with the team. Turns out we were all stupid. Well, with over 2,200 examples authenticated and graded by PSA, only 89 were declared near-perfect. Great article. DD either sports a full noggin or that hat is about three stories too high. So, it might be shocking to find that some baseball cards from the 1980scan be worth five and six figures You see, not every card fell victim to overproduction. In 1984, the young slugger put on a clinic that cemented his spot and won the hearts of Yankees fans the world over. After Fernando started 8-0 with a 0.50 ERA with eight complete games and five shutouts in his first eight starts, "Fernandomania" swept across the country. 1980 TOPPS Baseball - Base Cards (251-500) - U Pick Complete Your Set And, speaking of classics, this 1980 Topps Schmidt qualifies, forever tied to the start of a dominant decade that left no doubt he was among the all-time greats. The young, bearded lefty poses in his White Sox uniform on his 1981 Topps rookie card, which has received a nice boost in price ever since his Hall of Fame induction. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network and Amazon. If you were unaware, the holy grail of Mark McGwires rookie card is his 1985 Topps Tiffany Team USA #410 card. all different years. It is collectible from the get-go, with only 5,000 Tiffany sets printed in 85. Join the hundreds of thousands of collectors who have benefited from the OPG. With 29,032 cards in the PSA pop report, the 1982 Topps Ripken rookie card has one of the highest population reports of all 1980s baseball cards. Take Roger Maris cards, for example. Those are the kinds of memories that make this hobby so great. Ryan was just an absolute monster when it came to pitching, and the value of his baseball cards reflects this. Produce an Opening Day box set, they said. Big Macs second Topps-issued card, but the first pictured with Oakland. The most valuable baseball card from the 1980s is Rickey Hendersons 1980 Topps rookie card. The evidence is that a PSA 9 mint copy, with 748 in existence, sells for considerably less than $100. The 1985 Topps Tiffany is Roger Clemenss most valuable rookie card. Bo Jackson was one of the biggest superstars in all of sports during the late 1980s and early 1990s. But it was baseball in 1988, so buy it we did, mostly looking for the highly-touted Mets prospect who looked like the kid who sat near the back of your social studies class. When it comes to rookie season debuts, the Dodgers have developed a reputation for some of the finest on record. Period. PSA has seen just 196 cards from this entire set, which is practically none compared to other 80s sets. He was, then, the youngest player to ever play in an All-Star Game. Puckett cracks the Top Ten! Not many of his rookie cards have yet made it into PSA for grading. 9 of the Most Valuable Baseball Cards in History. The weather looked great in Winter Haven, and young Roger Clemens was smiling. However, due to market conditions, values fluctuate. However, Puckett is the only player to meet both of those criteria making this card the only Hall of Fame rookie card in the 1985 Topps set. And the introduction of grading to the hobby has led to some collectors paying massive amounts of money for certain cards deemed to be in pristine condition. Another great 89 Upper Deck RC. And, the fact that it was "almost his rookie card" made it even more special to us. 1980 Topps. However, he and Lee Smith both received the nod to Cooperstown when the Today's Game Era Committee selected them as part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2019. All rights reserved. Card values tanked and many collectors now refer to that part of the hobby as the "junk era.". Fernandos 1981 Topps Traded appears elsewhere on this list, but this is Valenzuelas actual Topps RC. Rookie of the Year Mark McGwire. With the hunter green borders, clip art of a baseball hat with team names, and the vintage Topps logo, this card screams, collect me! The second easiest is the black scribble, which has just over 600 submitted. 1990 score football series 2 most valuable cards But theres a freakin snake in this picture . A ho-hum image, maybe, but still a key card of one of the most popular players of the decade. And like Fernando Valenzuela two years before, Kittle without question was instrumental in advancing the chase of the Rookie Card in the industry. Not only isMattingly's rookie card the face of this set, but it's also one of the most iconic of the 1980s. The cards were larger than normal, measuring in at 2 1/2" x 3 3/4", and featured full color photography and facsimile signatures of the players. But, he was even better with the glove as he would go on to win 9 Gold Gloves over his storied career so, rather fittingly, we get a nice shot of him on defense on this card. Theres no Roberto Ramos or Bobby Pate to have to share on the front of this Raines card. 1989 Topps Traded #110T Deion Sanders. My next move was to go diving through my cards to see if I had one. Therefore, the market has responded by boosting the price level of Gwynn's rookie in PSA 10 condition to the price levels you see here. You know, for a time there, he really did kind of look like a human version of E.T. This means only 6% of the population is in near-perfect conditions. For those on a budget, a PSA 9 example will only throw you back about $200. Headed into the last weekend of the season, Mattingly held an AL-best .342 average while his teammate Dave Winfield sat in second at .341. Nolan Ryan is arguably one of the best pitchers the MLB has ever seen. Like Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett has a 1984 Fleer Update XRC. It didnt take long for those busting 82 Fleer to realize that John Littlefields card featured a reverse negative, making the righthander a lefty on the card front. So, I stuck with big-name companies like Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck and others when building this list. They are far less populated than regular-issue Topps cards. This Dick Perez-produced art was card #1 of the very first offering of his famous Diamond Kings cards that populated so many Donruss sets. And many collectors already have figured that out. It took less than a month for Mattingly to convince Berra otherwise. While New York faded from the postseason race in September, Mattingly kept the city enraptured with a batting crown race for the ages. Best Baseball Cards of the 1980s | Ballcard Genius In any given year, an O-Pee-Chee card is usually distinguished from its Topps cousin because of the O-Pee-Chee trademark appearing on the front or back of the card. It certainly does. As a result of the legal process, Rose accepted his placement on baseball's permanently ineligible list, which would ban him from the game and Cooperstown for life. There are many Hall of Famers in this set. I remember several years ago you could find this card in a PSA 9 holder quite easily for $400 or so, which made it undervalued even back then. He won 10 Gold Glove awards, batted an even .300 over 17 years and finished less than 300 hits shy of 3,000. A 1982 Topps Orioles Future Stars base set card will make a great addition to any authentic Baltimore Orioles fan collection. When found in gem mint condition, these sell for $1,500, on average. So far, PSA has authenticated and graded only 11 copies. Displaying Henderson trademark crouched batting stance, it'd be a nice card even if it wasn't extremely valuable. The greatest lead-off hitter in the entirety of baseball history, Rickey Henderson finds no equal in the career rankings for both stolen bases and runs scored, keeping the spirit of the Dead Ball Era alive into the twenty-first century. And you get to learn that in French, you would refer to Outfield as Voltigeur. However, print quantities of 1983 Topps weren't at the same levels they were by the late 80s and early 90s. Bonner and Schneider didn't have the career that Cal Ripken Jr. did, and to say that "The Iron Man" lived up to the "Future Star" tag would be an understatement. For after that victory, the narrative changed from the tired and repetitive sentence Jim Abbott, born without a right hand, to Jim Abbott, who pitched the United States to an Olympic gold medal, That alone was a great step forward in the Jim Abbott story. But just stick with this corrected version. But, the "Tiffany" version of this card is worth thousands of dollars. First, I didn't include any college or Minor League cards and stuck with only those cards that featured a given player when he was in the Majors. When it was included in Fleers legendary 1984 Update set, many collectors were baffled by the image of Rose in the rouge, blanc et bleu of the Montreal Expos. Somehow, these cards managed to make it into the market by an employee or O-Pee-Chee themselves. For example, as of this writing, there are just under 700 examples of Gwynn's Topps rookie card that achieved PSA 10 grade status, while there are over 13,000 examples of Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1989 Topps Traded rookie graded in PSA 10 holders. Making this example 1 of only 13 in existence. In terms of errors, there are several greater than this. There was a time when the world came together for one thing: finding Wade Boggs Topps RCs. NM-MT 8. Future Star, indeed. This card of the 1980 AL Rookie of the Year is credited with making the Rookie Card a thing in the industry. O-Pee-Chee complies and produces roughly 130 sheets containing 132 different players. The hype surrounding Ken Griffey Jr. turned out to be well-placed as the legendary slugger went on to a Hall of Fame career. Of all the cards in this set, I think Bonds' is one of the best-looking. But, he also received his own standalone rookie in the 1981 Topps Traded set. Before playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken Jr. played for the Charlotte Os. There is an error version with the SS in the upper-right corner upside down. This variation is not limited to the Bo Jackson rookie card, they can be found on other player cards like Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Roger Clemens, Darryl Strawberry, and many more. Most Valuable Baseball Cards from the 1980s Price Guide & Values Alexander went 9-0 from mid-August on. Make no mistake, the thrill of finding this card in a regular or cello pack was huge. The Topps Traded set, however, has had a mind-blowing 46,835 submitted! I have 75 of these and am working on completing my little set!! Those are some pretty good numbers considering these cards may have been thrown in a dumpster at one time. If it werent for his 1989 RCs, most probably wouldnt even remember The Big Unit pitched for the Montreal Expos. Because he played for four different MLB teams, including the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros, hes a highly collectible player. Copyright 2023, Beckett Collectibles, LLC. There are no shortage of buyers for this card. And 5 to 10 of each in blank back proof. 1987 Donruss Greg Maddux RC #36 (buy on eBay) We feel the 1987 Greg Maddux Leaf rookie cards is not only one of the most underrated baseball cards of the 1980s but one of the most underrated in all of the card hobby. . Because a smaller amount of these were produced and because centering is a challenge, finding these in pristine condition can be tough.