For those who dont know, Bill Ripken had the word F**k Face boldly written in black sharpie on the bottom of his bat. I personally love 80s baseball cards and have some in my personal collection that are worth more than just the monetary value. He'd go on to win 7 Silver Sluggers over his career. Another Barry Bonds rookie card comes in at number 6 on the list. But its still a fun card, even if it is just a guy who made a living dressed as a chicken. Card values tanked and many collectors now refer to that part of the hobby as the "junk era." From 1992-1995, the guy with the pencil-thin mustache on this card won four consecutive National League Cy Young awards, leading the league in innings pitched each time. These hardly ever pop up on eBay; when they do, they sell quickly. Cal Ripken Jr. (1982 Topps RC #21) Ripken Jr. has to be regarded as one of the best shortstops in the history of baseball. The most valuable 1980s baseball cards hit that defnition "valuable" on multiple fronts. This is the sole reason it fetched a $1,740 auction price. He played for seven teams, but is best remembered as the glue of the back-to-back World Champion Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 and 93 when he batted a combined .347 over both Series. Completely missed him, while Upper Deck, Fleer and Donruss did include the games top prospect. Furthermore, the cardstock on the Tiffany cards is bright white instead of yellow or grey, making them much more appealing. But, fortunately, Clemens made it into the checklist with Puckett. This isnt even Cals first Topps card that appears elsewhere on this list but it was more challenging, and more expensive, to secure after its release in late 1982. Since most collectors in this hobby tend to draw the line on the "vintage era" at 1980, many consider theRickey Henderson rookie card to be the last big-name vintage rookie. It made this card settle into an affordable range so that even when he was on top of the baseball world, kids could still afford this Barry Bonds Topps RC. Other than that, the design is exactly the same as the base card. GEM-MT 10. A whopping 12,188 of these Ripken rookies have been submitted to PSA. Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps #311 Psa 9. Those are some pretty good numbers considering these cards may have been thrown in a dumpster at one time. From 1984 to 1991, Topps released a limited number of premium, higher-end versions of their base sets that they branded as the Topps Tiffany line. Furthermore, he holds the record for most consecutive games played, 2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrigs streak of 2,130, which lasted for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable. Growing up in central Indiana, Sandberg was one of the players I was able to watch most frequently and I remember being amazed at his ability to hit for power as a second baseman. 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. Cal Ripken Jr. played for the Orioles for the entire 21 years of his career. The driver of sales for Topps inaugural boxed Traded Set, the thought of getting a Valenzuela card picturing him alone during Fernandomania caused many a collector to dig for the wallet. Thank you! And, like Clemens, that might cut into the value and prestige of his 1985 Fleer Rookie Card to a . Just two years after the release of his first minor league card and shortly after his trade from Detroit to Atlanta, future Hall of Famer Smoltz made his major league card debut in Fleers 1988 Update Set. Well, with over 2,200 examples authenticated and graded by PSA, only 89 were declared near-perfect. At the time this card was pulled from packs of 1988 Topps, Glavine was en route to a 17-loss season as a rookie. Especially when compared to the 82 Ripken rookie mentioned above. Its actually a 1988 Upper Deck promo, released to stoke interest in the companys inaugural baseball release. It was Johnson who fared better over his career, collecting five Cy Young awards including four in a row while winning 303 games and landing in Cooperstown. Great ballplayer for much of the decade. Before playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken Jr. played for the Charlotte Os. Because Platinum has less available, they are naturally more valuable. 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. PSA 9s sell for considerably less in the $300 $400 price range. 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. The vintage baseball cards are some of the most collectible and highest-selling cards f. Nobody seriously, nobody could have seen 305 wins and the Hall of Fame in his future. 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. In 1989, Jackson ranked fourth in the American League in both home runs, with 32, and RBI, 105. Also, the exclusive held by Topps ended in 1981, and brands like Fleer and Bowman began to produce official MLB cards again. Consider picking up a PSA mint 9 copy for far less. The fans roared their approval and Winfield shook his hand with a knowing glance. Near-perfect card of a near-perfect hitter. With just 29 of the 1,000 Gwynn rookies submitted graded gem mint 10, finding one for auction will be complicated. Like anything in life, demand couldn't keep up with that increasing supply. Baltimore News Babe Ruth Pre Rookie Card with yellow background. Like the Bowman Tiffany product line mentioned above, the O-Pee-Chee cards were typically produced in far fewer quantities. But it took some time to develop his power. Hes the only American Leaguer in history to swipe one hundred bases in a season, a tally Henderson recorded three times, the first being the season that this necessary rookie card hit the shelves. And so on. Kirby Puckett wasted no time in making his mark in Minnesota, batting .296 as a 24-year-old rookie in 1984. . Baseball had two tall guys breaking in at about the same time: 6-foot-7 Ben McDonald and 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson. His 5,714 career strikeouts are an MLB record by a significant margin. Viewing the population report for the two makes it clear just how rarer they are than the Topps cards. For an era of cards that many call junk wax, the 80s have some decent cards. But, it's not always the case. 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. Since 1989, hes mostly been known for his penmanship. And you were living large. Bo Jackson washuge when I was a kid and his popularity is still quite high to this day. 8 Great 1980 Topps Baseball Cards Beyond Rickey Henderson Which doesnt make them very exciting. How rare are the Johnny Ray/Barry Bonds error 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. Regardless of its market value at any given point in time, the significance of this rookie card cannot be overstated as, again, the 1980 Topps set signaled the end of the vintage era. The ten-time All-Star who could hit and field with the best of him and his charismatic personality made him quite the popular ball player among not only Twins fans but baseball fans in general. If you owned a 84 Donruss Mattingly, you owned the neighborhood. Because they were printed for the Canadian market, the print run was much less than the regular issue Topps. He pointed out a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie card to his 11-year-old son, Gavin. But Fleer did have a moment of lapsed competency when it spelled Graig Nettles name as Craig (with a C) on the card back. Thats part of it but more important are the cards legacy and how they helped shape such an important era. Nolan Ryan cards, especially in high grade, remain incredibly popular among hobbyists. Fleer broke Topps' monopoly with a landmark court case in 1980 that opened the door for the Philadelphia gum maker and others to produced baseball cards starting in 1981. But, value aside, I wanted to highlight it as it's impossible to talk about 1980s baseball cards without mentioning this card. "Honus Wagner." Sports Card Investor. Consider Michael Jordan's buzzer-beater over Craig Ehlo during the 1989 Playoffs that sent the Cavaliers packing. And you get a Griffey Jr. RC! which would have made fun viewing. 7 Most Valuable Baseball Rookie Cards From the 1980s - Gold Card Auctions Lee Smith was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on December 9, 2018, as part of the Todays Game Era Committee vote. Topps Tiffany baseball cards are by far some of the most valuable baseball cards from both the 80s and the 90s. As an interesting side note, and perhaps a sad one for Wade Boggs fans, only Gwynn and Sandberg appeared in the smaller O-Pee-Chee checklist, so Boggs doesn't have an O-Pee-Chee rookie, unfortunately. Unlike his regular 81 Topps RC, the then future Hall of Famer is pictured on his own card, another gem from the ground-breaking 1981 Topps Traded set. But three years after this RC was released, the lefthander won the first of his two Cy Young awards and went on to earn a plaque in Cooperstown. Topps decides not to follow through with the set and tells them to dispose of the cards. Don't get me wrong, it's still an expensive card and you'll find them bouncing between $1,700 and $2,000 these days. Thats a joke. Meanwhile, Fleers offering paired the future Bash Brother with pitcher Eric Plunk. You'll usually find them on lower-quality card stock or with rough, jagged cuts. This example looks similar to his far less valuable 1987 Topps rookie card; however, this is the O-Pee-Chee version. Both Donruss and Fleer produced Canseco Rookie Cards for their mainstream sets, but the choice of the masses was Donruss. In 1962, Topps had opted not to sign Wills to a trading card deal, apparently believing he was not major league material. The Canadian version of Gwynns Topps RC. I remember being in that late-80s baseball card collecting frenzy, and seeing the majority of these cards. 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. There are two versions of this card. Using his fastball almost exclusively, he struck out the side, fanning Lance Parrish, Chet Lemon and Alvin Davis. With a print run of just an announced 6,000, this may well be the toughest rookie-year Griffey Jr. card to find. I've always loved this card and it's probably my favorite one in the set overall. But that doesnt mean this true rookie-year glossy card of a Hall of Famer (he did pitch 31 innings in 1986, not enough for rookie status) doesnt have its place in collections. While some dealers broke box sets to sell singles, others chose not to. Yes, it was corrected but by then it had made industry headlines and the C Nettles was all anyone wanted. You'll also notice the numbering of the sets was different as Clemens is card #99 in the Leaf set versus #273 in the Donruss set. Card Number. Sandberg's status as a Hall of Famer and one of the most beloved Cubs of all-time keeps demand for high grade specimens of his rookie card at lofty price levels. . Lee Smith is recognized as one of the dominant closers in baseball history. Its easy to do, they said. And there are several rookie cards in this set. Free shipping for many products! Or take Joe Montana's pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone during the 1981 NFC Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys. It is said that only 1,400 sets were printed, but many were thrown away or deemed worthless at the time. Star Babe Ruths pre rookie card has an astronomical price tag with only ten copies in existence. Furthermore, the back also has the O-Pee-Chee logo and a much brighter card stock than the regular issue Topps. It used to be Billy Ripken was best known for being Cals younger brother. Seems surprising now, but Topps failed to include Griffey in its flagship release in 1989. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Stay in the know about the latest sports card, hobby news, and promotions from Beckett. Another valuable card from the 1985 Topps Tiffany set is the Roger Clemens rookie card #181. This can be attributed to several things. If it werent for his 1989 RCs, most probably wouldnt even remember The Big Unit pitched for the Montreal Expos. First, new collectors entered the hobby based on the idea of treating baseball cards as an investment. Be cautious of reprints and fakes because there are a lot. This is because they had less distribution than regular-issue Topps cards. Last,I didn't include any test issues from those mainstream companies. Got thousands baseball football basketball ,and hockey . In his eight baseball seasons, Jackson had a career batting average of .250, hit 141 home runs, and had 415 RBIs, with a slugging average of .474. Don Mattingly is a legendary player for the New York Yankees, and his rookie cards are some of the most expensive of 80s baseball cards. In 20 years, how will history remember The Crime Dog? But, the "Tiffany" version of this card is worth thousands of dollars. However, the Bo Jackson football cards have reached prices upwards of $1,500. Nobody gets to 3,000 career hits by accident. Owner of one of the most famous World Series home runs ever hit, and one of the nicest guys to ever grace the front of a baseball card. The All-Star designation on this card seems pretty appropriate. The same thing that had people rushing to see Ready Player One, or even, for some reason, wanting to relive the horror of It. One of the more difficult Mattingly rookie-year releases to find in Mint condition is this Nestle card, found on one of six different uncut sheets. Most Valuable Baseball Cards From The 80s And 90s But there is a snake in this picture. From 1986-90, Davis averaged 30 home runs and 90 RBI, and finished with a .900-plus OPS in three of those seasons. If the population remains low, these could increase in value over time. This is one of the hobbys most iconic and recognizable error cards. For example, common 1909 T206 cards are worth something while many common cards printed in the 1980's are not. If you do the math on those 2,416 strikeouts he accumulated during his time with the Angels, that meant heaveraged302 strikeouts per season, a mark many pitchers would be lucky to reach even once during their careers. Please enter the verification code that you received on your email. Fleer was the only company that included a Kittle RC in its regular set, as Donruss and Topps passed. Few were released because the error was fixed shortly after it was discovered. So far, there have been just 22 submitted. Bonds' legacy will forever be shadowed in controversy, but with or without PEDs there is no question he was one of the game's most talented players who ever stepped onto the field. The weather looked great in Winter Haven, and young Roger Clemens was smiling. Which is a minimal amount. Not a bad career for the kid who attended Cincinnatis Moeller High School, the same school that later graduated Ken Griffey Jr. Back before his 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, and back before Raffys life became complicated, there was this. The heavy gloss and stark white borders have proven to be the obstacles that have made Gem Mint examples like this so challenging. There is a lot of speculation about how it hit the market with no definitive answers. Rated Rookie? 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn RC #482 1983 Topps Baseball is one of the best sets of the decade. And then there was Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A's. So when time came to include the 1962 NL MVP in its Kmart MVP box set, Topps did the only thing they could they produced a card that never was. 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. Over 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, Harold Baines appeared in six All-Star games, hit 384 home runs, tallied 1,628 RBI, and scored another 1,299 runs. 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. And you get a Griffey Jr. RC! However, 1,098 were submitted and graded, with just 47 making the gem mint 10 grade. . Which, is incredibly rare. This second-year card of Gwynn may be the best looking of any of his other releases over the years. 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. Five years after that he was named the 1995 NL Most Valuable Player and in 2012, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected him to the Baseball Hall of Fame. 20 Baseball Cards Now Worth A Fortune And 10 That Have - TheSportster Ask i may have it for sslr. I was stunned when I read the price next to the Barry Bonds error card. Thats okay. We love the '80s (and '90s) baseball cards: The top 15 sets of the era You want the Rookie Card of the major leagues all-time runs scored and stolen base leader? To be fair, though, his innings pitched totals in Houston weren't as steep as those during his time in California, and his 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings in 1987 was the highest mark of his career. Everyone wants to collect the best of the best, and Nolan Ryan is at the top of the list. Making them one of his most valuable baseball cards from the 1980s. Along with those of Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg, the 1983 ToppsTony Gwynn rookie card is one of the most iconic baseball cards of the 1980s. Yet only seventeen examples have achieved the services highest honor, making it one hundred times as rare as Mint 9 representations. The 1985 Leaf set was much smaller than its Donruss counterpart as it included only 264 cards instead of 660. No position player in the American League enjoyed a better all-around season as Rickey Henderson did in 1981. There are four variations: a whiteout, a black box, and scribbled-out black and white. Less than 200 of these "cards" ever passed through PSA's grading facilities, so they're quite rare. Alexander went 9-0 from mid-August on. A 1982 Topps Orioles Future Stars base set card will make a great addition to any authentic Baltimore Orioles fan collection. He stayed true to his word and did not sign with the team. Of those 130 steals, he was caught just 17 times. Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. 25 Baseball Cards Worth Money - MoneyWise But this, the only RC of future Hall of Famer Raines pictured alone, is about as close as it gets. And 5 to 10 of each in blank back proof. A raw and un-graded Rickey Henderson rookie card in less-than-mint condition sells anywhere from $30 to $50. Because Jackson was such a massive prospect in football and baseball, he is still highly collectible. Combine the low supply with the fact that this is an error card of one of Baseballs most legendary players, and you get the recipe for a highly collectible. Top 25 Most Valuable Baseball Cards from the 1980's - Update with giveaway! Production seemed to multiply from 1984 numbers, and who could blame Donruss for not wanting to leave money on the table? This means only 6% of the population is in near-perfect conditions. The photographer and the entire Fleer printing team did not miss this. The cards look exactly like their Topps counterparts, save for the Nestle logo in place of Topps. 9 of the Most Valuable Baseball Cards in History Pete Rose would lead the league in hits (140) for the seventh and final time in his storied career during the shortened 1981 season. This was one of the most popular Bonds RCs pulled from packs in 87. A fantastic example of how a card could rise and fall. After pacing the league in strikeouts during seven of his previous eight seasons with the Angels, nearly everyone expected that he would be at the top every year. When graded gem mint 10 by PSA, the value has gone as high as $180,000. He signed, became an All-Star and marketing gold. And so they parted with a 20-year-old Michigan native named Smoltz, trading him to the Braves for 36-year-old veteran Doyle Alexander. And, like Tony Gwynn, Sandberg also appeared in the 1983 O-Pee-Chee set. Surprisingly, only 565 of the Tiffany Traded Bo Jackson rookies have been graded by PSA so far. The entire 1988 season was memorable for Gibson as he picked up the only MVP and Silver Slugger awards of his career that year.
