The best Topps card of the 1980′s

Here’s the next 4 cards in the countdown of the top cards in the decade.  As a reminder, this is my opinion on the best card from the 80′s.  Not just the best photo, the best card design, the best player or the most notable card.  Really, I consider all of those factors and make a personal list, made up of the cards I think are the best.

1) 1980 Topps #482 – Rickey Henderson

• Rookie card of my favorite player not named Ken Griffey Jr.
• Who’s also one of the best players to lace ‘em up.  In my lifetime, I think he’s probably the third best batter – behind Bonds and A-Rod, just ahead of Ripken and Griffey, and with a TBD for Pujols.
• 1980 Topps – one of my favorite card designs.
• Great picture – Rickey’s notable, low-to-the-ground batting stance.
• Facsimile signature that is placed perfectly and goes really well with the card and photo.
• Old school Oakland uniform.

There’s a lot to love about this card.  This card is really why I started this blog – doing the lifetime Topps thing meant I could start with this set, which seemed untouchable when I was a kid with a 5 or 10-dollar allowance.

Also, not in my list above may be the most important factor – the year it was released.  In 1980, which was also the year I was born, there was only one game in town.  And that would be Topps.  So if you wanted to get a card of your favorite player, there was only one place to find it.  Want a rookie card of Tony Gwynn?  Wade Boggs?  There are 3 to choose from.  What about Cal Ripken?  Three as well, and the card everybody wanted was the Topps Traded that isn’t technically a rookie card.  Griffey?  There are actually 7 of his.  And if you go past the 1980′s, it gets down right ridiculous.  But there’s just one Rickey, and it’s the best card of the decade to me.

 

Top 10 Topps cards of the 1980′s: #5 – #2

Here’s the next 4 cards in the countdown of the top cards in the decade.  As a reminder, this is my opinion on the best card from the 80′s.  Not just the best photo, the best card design, the best player or the most notable card.  Really, I consider all of those factors and make a personal list, made up of the cards I think are the best.

5) 1988 Topps #200 – Wade Boggs

There was a poll done on the 1988 Topps blog, which was finished up before I started this blog. At the end of the blog, when all cards had been scanned, there was a poll ,and Bo Jackson’s card won the title for the best card from the set, beating this card out for the victory.  The Bo card is tremendous – you can’t go wrong.  But I’d give it third place in that set, behind the Jose Canseco and this card.  There should be more cards with Boggs and his unique follow-through and the head duck.  This card has always been one of my favorite cards, even though Boggs is not a favorite player of mine.  Like many of the other cards on this list – the picture seems to go well with the design.  The bat splits “Red” and “Sox” down the middle.  The ribbon with the player name actually covers up the empty space on the card.  It’s cool, period.

4) 1982 Topps Traded #98T – Cal Ripken, Jr.

We’re getting into cards that really could be argued as the best card of the decade.  This card certainly fits that bill.  It’s the most expensive card of the decade.  It’s Probably the most notable card, too.  Ripken has a rookie card in 1982 Topps, but that one shows him with 2 other Oriole prospects.  The single player card of Ripken, is a pretty iconic card.  It’s got his signature on there – neat that he signed it “Jr.” but the card just says “Cal Ripken”.  This card actually ranks 12th on the list of Topps “Top 60″ cards that they had a poll on in early 2011.  It’s 5th from the decade just behind the McGwire Olympic card, which I gave an honorable mention yesterday, behind the Bo Jackson card from 1986 Topps Traded (see my commentary in the next card), and also behind top 2 cards from my countdown.  You’ll have to read on to see which those are…

3) 1987 Topps #170 – Bo Jackson

As mentioned, the 1986 Topps Traded card of Bionic Bo is up there on the Topps 60 list that the company did.  That card is #8.  I think they got it wrong including that card.  This is the cooler of the 2 Bo Jackson cards.  Unlike the ’86 Topps Traded card of Bo, this card:

• Has an awesome picture of Bo in his Royal Blue, about to make a catch – and probably gun down some sucker at the plate (86 Topps is just a poorly done pose)
• Featured on the awesome wood-based design of 1987 Topps (86 Topps – not an awesome design)
• Has the awesome future stars writing at the bottom.  It looks better on 87 than any other set (86 Topps – no Future Stars writing)
• It’s Bo Jackson.  Bo Jackson is awesome (OK, the 86 Bo Jackson card has awesome Bo Jackson – but that’s only 1 out of 4)

Honestly, the top 2 cards from my countdown are rookie cards of 2 of my favorite 3 players of all-time.  So I’m admittedly catering to my own bias there, but not with this card.  So there’s an argument this could be the top card.  Bo Jackson isn’t someone I have any particular affinity for – like just about everyone else, I was in awe of him and recognized he had the cool factor.

2) 1989 Topps Traded #41T – Ken Griffey, Jr.

My top 2 cards agree with the top 2 cards in the “Topps top 60″, though I’ve flipped the order.  This card was ranked #5 from that list, which is not only the top card of the 1980′s, it’s the top card of any decade other than the 50′s or 60′s.  It’s a cool photo, and again – it’s cropped well for the design.  Though 1989 isn’t my favorite design out there – it’s kind of middle of the road.  Griffey is my favorite player of all-time.  I named my dog after him.  So it’s with a little hesitation that I don’t make this the #1 card of the decade.  But there’s one card that has too much mojo going for it to get beat out by any other card…

And you’ll have to read tomorrow to see which one that is!

Top 10 Topps cards of the 1980′s: #10 – #6

The last thing for me to do in the posts I’ve planned for finishing up the 1980′s is to count down the best cards of the entire decade.  This isn’t just the best photo.  It isn’t just the best card design.  It isn’t just the best players.  It isn’t just the most notable card.  This is the best card.  Period.  So to make my list here, I considered all of those factors.  It’s a personal list, made up of the cards I think are the best.  So how I weight those factors is quite dependent on the perspective I had.  And I must admit, that perspective is very skewed by how I first viewed many of these cards –  from a 7 or 8 year old’s eyes who had just found himself interested in baseball and baseball cards.

Honorable Mention - #401 – Mark McGwire OLY RC

This card is actually the hardest for me to classify as far as this list.  It is extremely significant.  There was a time where this was probably the most valuable card from the entire decade – Topps or any other.  In a time way before Bowman started getting rookie cards before they were even rookies, Topps Traded was the earliest a player would get a card – and that would be a 1985 rookie getting a 1985 card.  But McGwire got this card 2 years before his true rookie season, as a member of the 1984 Olympic team (when baseball was a demonstration sport – meaning it didn’t work toward the medal count).  He would go on to break the most treasured record in all of sports, and then have one of the larger falls from grace we’ve seen in baseball.  The significance and story behind the card make it pretty cool.  And it’s pretty cool that it shows him in a Team USA card.  But I have no special love for Big Mac (that’s true about the player and the burgers, actually), and it isn’t the greatest photo.  So this card is just outside of my top 10 list.

10) 1985 Topps #570 – Darryl Strawberry

Beating out McGwire for my best card from that set (when I did the 1985 post), and making my top 10, is Darryl Strawberry’s card from 1985.  What can I say, this card has a lot of the factors I mentioned above.  It isn’t particularly significant, but in 1985 or 1986 you sure wouldn’t have minded pulling this from a pack.  It’s a great shot – I put it in as an honorable mention just as an action shot alone.  I think the Mets’ pinstripes uniforms were great in the 80′s.  Darryl looks like he just connected, or maybe just fouled a pitch off.  In the days before the drugs hampered his career, this card really shows his height and captures how intimidating he could be for pitchers in the mid 1980′s.

9) 1986 Topps #206 – Pete Rose RB

This was my favorite Reds card from the decade, and my second favorite subset from the decade.  I guess I’m being kind of inconsistent by putting this card in the overall top 10, and excluding the ’88 Murray record breaker (which was my #1 subset) from the list.  But I think for this list I’m factoring in the significance of the card – and this is the record breaker of all record breaker cards.

This was my second favorite card from the 1986 Topps set.  I’m also being inconsistent there – because I’m not putting the Schmidt card on this countdown either.  I did the 86 Topps post almost two years ago, and I’m allowed to rethink my position on these things, dammit!

8) 1983 Topps #550 – Carl Yastrzemski

Again, this card is a really good example of something that has a bunch of factors working for it.  It’s a star player – Carl Yastrzemski.  It’s 1983 Topps, one of the best designs of the decade.  It’s even got some significance; it’s the last Topps card for Yaz, who I think is forgotten as one of the best ever.  And it’s a very cool photo – him around the batting cage, hitting grounders or fly balls to somebody, almost as if he’s already moved on to become more of a coach than a superstar.

This card was my top card from the 1983 set.  That’s saying something.

7) 1980 Topps #400 – George Foster

I just did this card; it won my best “pose” of the decade.  I don’t feel like writing up something new about it – what I said yesterday fits the bill.

I love this photo.  It looks like he’s not really in the background, kind of like a 1970′s television show opening intro.  And it’s a Big Red Machine member.  And he’s got bad-ass sideburns.

The one thing I’d add – I love the 1980 design.  Maybe more than the 1983 set and as much as the 1987 design.  This was my second favorite card from the 1980 set.  Stick around, you might be interested to see where I put the best card from that set…

6) 1984 Topps #10 – Robin Yount

This was another card that made one of my previous countdowns.  The Yount card was third in my favorite action shots – based solely on the photo.  So it’s established as a great picture that works with the design.  But it’s also of a hall of fame shortstop (eventually turned center fielder) and has become one of my favorite cards while I did this project.  I had this card higher initially, though I guess the fact that Yount isn’t a personal favorite of mine and since this card isn’t of “notable significance” or whatever I called that factor above, I moved it down a tad bit.  That, and the fact that it’s the 1984 set, which isn’t one of the better designs from the decade (though it’s also not a bad design, I’ll grant).

That’s the first half of the top 10.  I’ll do cards numbered 5 through 2 in tomorrow’s post.

My favorite posed shots from Topps in the 1980′s

Next on my posts for completing the decade is another top 5 list based on photos from the decade.  The last post was action shots, the next one is the best posed shot.  Like that list, this listing also goes completely based on the photo itself – not necessarily the player.  Of course these are just my favorites – so let me know if you’ve got some others you’d include!

Honorable Mention – 1981 Topps Al Hrabosky, 1983 Topps Steve Balboni, Billy Martin, Dale Murphy, 1984 Topps Kirk Gibson, 1987 Topps Eric Davis, 1989 Topps Julio Franco

It’s saying a lot that the Hrabosky card, with the awesome Fu Man Chu, doesn’t make the top 5.  Here’s the cards that edged out the Mad Hungarian.  That card is cool enough that I’ll show it here anyways.

5) 1985 Topps #300 – Rod Carew

I’m a big fan of batting cage type photos.  Carew’s pose is cool here.  Some shots tend to work with the design of a set.  This shot wouldn’t work as well with something like 1982 or 1984 Topps where the non-picture part of the card is on the side, or 1986 Topps where the team name is on the top.  But it works very well in 1985 Topps.  The photo manages to show off so many things:

• Carew’s bat handle,
• Carew holding his helmet,
• the full team name on the front of his jersey,
• the cage,
• the classic Carew afro,
• and a thoughtful (or confused?) look on his face.

4) 1982 Topps #239 – Jon Matlack

As I said a little bit ago when I did the 1982 Topps post – we have found the true originator of the “Discount Double Check”!

3) 1988 Topps #74 – Tommy LaSorda MGR

This is a pretty recognizable card.  It captures the essence of a guy who was good for baseball, and is an all-around good guy – Tommy LaSorda.  One of the few creative cards in the 1988 set, and one of the few cards I know of that has a golf card in the photo!

2) 1986 Topps #29 – Tony Phillips

Had this photo been in, say, 2006, do you think everything in this picture would have been destined to be cut up and fitted into various baseball cards to be packed out in?  You’ve got a game-used: hat, jersey, fielding glove, ball, batting glove, and a bat.

Add to all that, and the look on Phillips face is classic.  It almost seems like he was a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar or something!  Plus, the green A’s jersey is a cool factor as well.

1) 1980 Topps #400 – George Foster

I love this photo.  It looks like he’s not really in the background, kind of like a 1970′s television show opening intro.  And it’s a Big Red Machine member.  And he’s got bad-ass sideburns.  If you’ve ever met Foster in an autograph show – you can just tell he’s a good guy.  I don’t think he was viewed that way during his playing days, but out of the 9 Big Red Machine autographs I’ve got, only Sparky seemed even more fun-loving and genuine than George did.

My favorite action photos from Topps in the 1980′s

Continuing on with my “completed decades” post.  This top listing goes completely on the photo itself – who the player is doesn’t really impact it.  These are the “action” variety best of the decade.  I’m going to just do a top 5 of these.  Of course these are just my favorites – so let me know if you’ve got some others you’d include!

Honorable mention – 1980 Gary Carter, 1981 Kent Tekulve, 1985 Topps Darryl Strawberry

5) 1989 Topps #231 – Padres TL (R. Alomar)

There aren’t very many action cards in the 89 Topps set – in fact, the Team Leaders by far have the best action shots.  This one features Roberto Alomar sliding around Gary Carter at the plate.  It makes my top 5 over some of the cards that had honorable mention from above.

4) 1983 Topps #768 – Chris Speier

I had assumed Gary Carter’s card would win this when I was doing my completed set post for 1983 Topps.  But when I flipped through the cards one last time I noticed Speier tagging out a diving/jumping/flying Derrel Thomas in a photo that you just didn’t see in cards from the early 80′s.  Or from cards of any time in the 80′s, really.  There are a number of really good photos in the 1983 set – but this one was the best!  About the only thing that keeps it from being closer to the top of my list is that it looks like a Spring Training game.

3) 1985 Topps #10 – Robin Yount

The photography in the 1984 set isn’t the greatest.  Across the board it just doesn’t compare to the 1983 set.  But I’ll take this action shot – an in-action photo of a hall of fame player – over anything else Topps put out in the 80′s.  Except for two other cards…

2) 1987 Topps #653 – Kevin Mitchell

Mitchell sliding into home with an incredible cool “while the dust settles” moment.  The best action shot in a regular card from the decade – but not the best in the whole decade…

1) 1982 Topps #111 – Cartlon Fisk IA

Of course a card from the subset titled “In Action”.  It’s definitely the best action shot in the 1982 Topps set, and for my money, Fisk reaching out for a foul pop is the best action shot in the whole decade!

The best Topps subset cards from the 1980′s

Best subset card is my next category of “best of” awards for the 1980′s decade.  I’d like to point out that I’m not treating the Olympic cards from 85 Topps or 88 Traded, or the Draft Pick cards from 89 Topps, or any Future Stars or All-Star Rookie cards as subsets.  These are those players’ only cards in that set, which isn’t what I think of when I think “subset”.  Otherwise, McGwire’s Olympic card would be tough to top on this list.  I’m also doing a top 10 here.  This was really fun to do – feel free to chime a comment in with any you would have included!

Honorable Mention – 1985 Topps Record Breaker #2 – Steve Garvey

I really like this card and it’s so close to the next card for my favorite subset card in 1985 Topps, that I figured I’d throw out an honorable mention to it so I can scan it!  It looks like the sun in the background, but that’s a Padre retired jersey on the outfield wall.  This record breaker commemorates him setting the record for the most consecutive games without an error.  Not one of those big, important records, but the photo is very cool.

#10) – 1985 Topps Father-Son #133 – Bob and Ray Boone

The father-son subset is an underrated gem of the 1985 Topps set, and the Boone’s are the more recognizable of the 3-generation families.  Yogi Berra also has a card with his son Dale in the subset.

9) 1989 Topps Record Breaker #5 – Orel Hershiser

A very good photo, but what’s important is that this card represents a truly great accomplishment.  The way Hershiser broke Don Drysdale’s record for consecutive scoreless innings is legendary.  The record came over the last month of the season, when the Dodgers really needed the wins to pass the Reds to get into the postseason.  In his last start of the season, he needed to get over 9 scoreless innings to tie Drysdale’s record.  He threw the scoreless 9 innings, and his Dodger hitters played their part – scoring no runs. Hershiser pitched one more frame, broke Drysdale’s record, and he led the Dodgers to the World Series title that year.  Play Kirk Gibson’s home run all you want, but in mid-August the Dodgers were in a battle for the NL West and Danny Jackson had the Cy Young on lockdown.  Until Hershiser went on the most dominant month of pitching since I’ve been alive.

8) 1981 Topps Postseason Highlights #404 – Tug McGraw

I’m no Phillies fan, but I can certainly appreciate this moment.  For all the talk of the droughts of the Red Sox, White Sox and of course the Cubs – at the beginning of the 1980 season, the Philadelphia Phillies had never won a World Championship in the franchise’s 97-year history.  Only 5 franchises are older than the Phillies (Cubs, Braves, Cardinals, Reds, Pirates) – so showing the reaction to the clinching play of the series is really capturing a big moment in baseball history.

7) 1987 Topps Turn Back the Clock #315 – Maury Wills

The TBC subset has always been one of my favorites.  It has something to do with me being such a big retro set fan, I think.  And this card is my favorite out of all those cards – because it has something unique to it.  Yes, it covers the 1962 season when Wills took home the MVP and broke Ty Cobb’s record for stolen bases in a season – becoming the first over 100 in the process.  But, what’s notable here is that Wills didn’t have a 1962 Topps card – he didn’t sign a contract for a few years with the company.  So Topps had to do some improvising and essentially create a 1962 card of the speedster.

6) 1982 Topps In Action #111 – Carlton Fisk

The best card in an awesome subset that comes behind the relevant player’s base card.  This card of Fisk sprawling out to make a play is one of the best cards in the set, period.

5) 1987 Topps Record Breaker #1 – Roger Clemens

The Rocket got card #1 in this set, thanks to his 20-strikeout performance during his incredible 1986 season.  It’s since been matched by Kerry Wood and again by himself – but the first to do this in a 9-inning game makes for one of the cooler cards out there.

4) 1984 Topps Highlights #4 – Ryan/Carlton/Perry

This card is right behind the accomplishment of the #2 card from this countdown.  After Walter Johnson was the career strikeout king for nearly 60 years, Ryan, Carlton and Perry all passed the Big Train in the same season.  Then Ryan and Carlton went back and forth for over a year as the current strikeout king.  This was such a big deal, it gets this card up there on this list.

3) 1983 Topps Record Breaker #2 – Rickey Henderson

Another big accomplishment, this card honors Rickey shattering the single season SB record.  And it’s a cool photo with him looking for another steal. He’s got some dirt on his uniform, and that looks like a certain young shortstop for the Orioles, so I can assume he’s looking to take third for his 2nd swipe of the day!

2) 1986 Topps Record Breaker #206 – Pete Rose

My favorite Reds card from the decade is my second favorite subset card of any player.  Mostly this is because of the historical significance.  Of all the accomplishments in baseball during my lifetime, Pete Rose passing Ty Cobb is definitely in the top 5.  It’s in the argument with McGwire passing Maris and Ripken passing Gehrig as the biggest events in baseball since 1980.  Bonds passing Aaron, the trio above passing the Big Train, Ryan’s 7 no-hitters and the Yankees winning 3 straight World Series is in that next tier.  But that still doesn’t get Pete top billing here – that goes to my favorite subset card from the 1980′s:

1) 1988 Topps Record Breaker #4 – Eddie Murray

I’ve always had a ton of love for this card.  1988 Topps was the set I spent hours poring over when I was a kid, and when you’re 8 years old putting Murray next to himself but on opposite sides of the plate – well that just blows your mind!  The card honors him hitting homers from both sides in 2 consecutive games.  That’s like a lower level of what Johnny Vander Meer did in the 1930′s – but it’s the photo and the design that makes this one awesome card!

The best Reds cards from Topps in the 1980′s

Next up I’m going to do some of the top cards from the 1980′s decade in Topps.  And first I’ll do the best Reds cards of the decade.  When I consider this, I’m going to consider this from a pure Reds fan standpoint – not necessarily what is the best Topps card that happens to be a Red – but the cards that are the coolest to me as a Reds fan.  I didn’t have a set number in mind when I did this, but I figure there are at least 10 great Reds cards in this decade, so I’m going with that.

10) 1986 Topps #1 – Pete Rose

I’m not a big fan of Rose any more (I find betting on baseball the most appalling of sins a player could commit, and even more than that – I find it very hard to be a fan of someone who went out of his way to lie to the world for 15 years), but this card represents something that brings a lot of pride to native Cincinnatians.  Long before Big Mac and Sosa were roiding their way to the record book, Rose was breaking one of the most hallowed records in the books.  This card kind of represents that – Rose got card #1 for his feat, and Topps also did a 6-card subset to honor his career.

9) 1983 Topps #60 – Johnny Bench

The last Topps card of the best catcher of all-time (or, at least his last regular Topps card).

8) 1988 Topps Traded #98T – Chris Sabo XRC

Spuds MacKenzie took the town, the All-Star game and the Rookie of the Year award by storm in 1988, and this was his first Topps card that year.

7) 1988 Topps #150 – Eric Davis

One of my favorite sets and one of my favorite players, in a great pose showing off his swing.

6) 1986 Topps #85 – Tony Perez

This was my favorite Reds card from this set – old school and new school meet in one of the cooler cards you can find out there.

5) 1985 Topps #627 – Eric Davis RC

A cool-looking Rookie Card, and it’s of one of my favorite players of all-time.

4) 1980 Topps #400 – George Foster

I wrote about this card in my completed set for 1980 Topps – where this was my 2nd favorite card of the set.  I’ll recap that here.  It looks like he’s not really in the background, kind of like a 1970′s television show opening intro.  And it’s a Big Red Machine member.  Honorable mention goes to Nolan Ryan and Andre Dawson.

3) 1985 Topps #600 – Pete Rose

Narrowly beats out the Davis RC, but Rose coming back to Cincinnati was too big of a deal to ignore his first card back in a Reds uniform.

2) 1987 Topps #648 – Barry Larkin RC

It’s probably not the best photo, but it’s not a bad one.  And it’s

• a) the rookie card
• b) of a Hall of Famer
• c) who played his whole career for the Reds
• d) who was born in raised in Cincinnati (the first non-NY guy to make the HOF playing his entire career for his hometown team), AND
• e) it’s from the 1987 Topps set which is one of my favorites.

1) 1986 Topps #206 – Pete Rose

See the card at the top of this countdown for my reasoning.  Except this is the card that represents the record, and shows Rose breaking Cobb’s record.

The most Topps cards in the 80′s – the Hit King

I had a guess as to who would be #1 in this category – the most Topps cards in the decade of the 80′s.  The Hit King himself, Pete Rose, had a total of 33 cards in the base sets from 1980-1989 (including Traded sets).

Pete Rose (33)

• 1980 (2) – base, HL
• 1981 (2) – base, RB
• 1982 (5) – base, HL, AS, TL, IA
• 1983 (3) – base, SV, AS
• 1984 (3) – base, 2 AL
• 1984 Traded (1) – base
• 1985 (3) – base, RB, MG
• 1986 (9) – base, 6 Tribute, MG, RB
• 1987 (3) – base, MG, TL
• 1988 (1) – MG
• 1989 (1) – MG

 

 

 

Rose had the most cards in three Topps sets – 1982 (tied with Mike Schmidt and Tom Seaver), 1985 (tied with Bruce Sutter) and of course this was anchored by a whopping 9 cards in the 1986 set.  Rose had a 6-card tribute in the ’86 set, and he actually wouldn’t have the most cards if not for that set.  Steve Carlton was only a little behind him.  The 3 other guys with over 25 cards in the 1980′s Topps flagship sets were:

• Steve Carlton – 28 cards
• Rickey Henderson – 26 cards
• Mike Schmidt – 25 cards

Carlton having that many cards is kind of surprising – he didn’t have any cards in the last 2 years of the decade. Others who had quite a few – George Brett (22), Tom Seaver (22), Nolan Ryan (21), Gary Carter (21), and Dale Murphy (20).

Topps in the 80′s – last active player

Last active player from this decade: #122T – Omar Vizquel, 1989 Topps Traded

Naturally, this would come from the Traded set from the last year of the decade.  Omar Vizquel and Jamie Moyer both played in 2012, and they are each one of only 29 players to play in 4 different decades.

Vizquel played his last game for Toronto on October 3rd last year, the last game of the season.  The Blue Jays moved him back to short for one last game after he’d only played 2-3x a week at 2B or 3B over the final 2 months.  Unfortunately, he didn’t turn a double play that game, though no player in history has turned more.  He went 1 for 3 to finish his career with 2,877 hits, the most of any player from Venezuela.  He has over 400 stolen bases, and over 1400 runs.  Possibly the greatest defensive shortstop in history, he has the highest fielding percentage of any MLB shortstop, he’s played in the most games at that position, and his game on October 3rd is the standard for the oldest player to play that position (a record he’d broken earlier in the year).

Moyer would be the last active player in the decade if you didn’t include Traded sets – and who knows, he hasn’t officially retired, so he could pass Vizquel back up.

Composition of the 1980′s Topps sets

The next thing I look at in my completed set posts (which I’m doing for the “completed” decade of the 80’s) is the composition of the sets.  The set size started the decade off at 726 cards, which is where it had been since 1978.  There were really just two major changes in the size / composition of the Topps flagship brand during the 1980’s.

• In 1981, Topps introduced the update set – Topps Traded – as 132 additional cards that showcased rookies and players in their new uniforms (sometimes airbrushed) from the current season.  This was issued in factory set form only (with the exception of a test pack-out in 1985).
• In 1982, Topps increased the standard set size to 792.  This remained in effect the rest of the decade.

So in the decade, there were 8,976 cards in the flagship Topps brand – 7,788 cards in the regular sets and 1,188 in the Traded sets.

Set composition:

• 7,894 individual player cards.  6,776 are from the regular set, 1,118 are from the Traded set.  Out of these, 19 cards are marked “Future Stars” and 30 are noted as “All-Star Rookies”, which Topps did in ’87, ’88, and ‘89.
• 78 Future Stars tri-player cards.  This was done one per team in the first three years of the decade.
• 37 Team USA player cards.  16 in the 1985 regular set, 21 in the 1988 Traded set.  McGwire being the big one here.
• 21 Draft Pick cards.  Though the subset in 1985 was historical #1 picks, while the 1989 subset was first round picks from the year before.
• 274 Manager cards.  234 from the regular set, 40 from Traded.
• 182 Team Leaders.  1982-1984 and 1986-1989.
• 176 All-Stars. Not counting players in 1980 and 1981 who were marked as All-Stars on their regular card – this subset was included every year from 1982 forward.
• 52 Record Breakers.  Done every year but ’80, ’82, and ’84.  When there wasn’t a RB subset, there was instead a HL subset.
• 40 In Action.  1982 only, following directly after the player’s regular card.
• 39 League Leaders.   1980-1984.
• 34 Super Veterans.  1983 only – effectively replaced In Action from the year before.
• 20 Turn Back the Clock.  5 each year from 1986 on.
• 18 Season Highlights.  6 cards each of the 3 years there wasn’t a RB subset.
• 18 Active Leaders.  1984 only – effectively replaced Super Vets from the year before.
• 14 Father Son.  1985 only – effectively replaced Active Leaders from the year before.
• 6 Tribute.  1986 only – Pete Rose.  There would be more of these the next decade.
• 4 Post-Season Highlights.  1981 only.
• 69 checklists.  6 each year in the regular set, 1 for each of the 9 traded sets.  Keep your inappropriate jokes to yourself.

Interestingly, there was one instance where the “set composition” was exactly the same from year to year – that was 1987 and 1988, which had the exact same subsets.  Also, no individual subset was included every year – though there were manager cards every year but 1982.

Representation of decade: 

The 1980-1989 Topps sets should, in theory, tell the story of the 1979-1988 MLB seasons.  Since I’m including 1989 Topps Traded in this, it also includes rookies from the 1989 season.  So it isn’t quite the decade of the 80′s when you do this comparison – 11 years instead.  During those 11 seasons, 2,411 different players graced the fields of Major League ballparks.

Of the cards from the base and future stars subset cards listed above, there are 1,828 different players featured.

To this number, there are 7 players from subsets to add because they played in the “decade” but didn’t have any regular cards.

• Al Chambers and Shawn Abner both had cards in the 1985 Draft Pick set, and while they didn’t have any other cards in the decade, they did play in the Big Leagues in that time frame.
• Gary Green was in the 1985 Topps Olympic subset, he played in the 80′s and didn’t have any other card.
• Pat Combs was in the 1988 Topps Traded Olympic subset, and he did play in 1989, but didn’t get a card in the ’89 Traded set.
• Andy Benes and Robin Ventura were in the 1989 Draft Pick subset (as well as the 1988 Traded Olympic subset).
• Lou Brock is in the 1980 Highlights and 1989 Turn Back the Clock subsets, but doesn’t have a regular card anywhere else in the decade. He played his last game in 1979.

On the flip side, there are 8 players to subtract who had regular cards but didn’t actually play in the decade.

• Brian Milner, Bobby Cuellar, Harry Saferight, and Randy Miller were in the 1981 Future Stars subset but never made the majors.  Milner was also in the 1982 subset.
• Dave Steffen and Pat Dempsey were in the 1982 Future Stars subset but never made the majors.
• Bob Apodaca and Don Gullett were both in the 1981 Topps set, but were injured in the early 80′s and had played their last game in 1978.

The 1,827 players represent 75.8% of the 2,411 players from 1979-1989.

Hall of Famers:

There were 54 different Hall of Famers featured in the flagship sets from the 80′s:

• Players active at the time (40): George Brett, Johnny Bench, Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Gary Carter, Steve Carlton, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Carlton Fisk, Goose Gossage, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Willie McCovey, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Jim Rice, Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith, Willie Stargell, Bruce Sutter, Don Sutton, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr., Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, Kirby Puckett, Barry Larkin, Roberto Alomar
• Managers (7): Sparky Anderson, Tommy LaSorda, Earl Weaver, Dick Williams, White Herzog, Frank Robinson, Yogi Berra
• Coach (1): Red Schoendienst
• Retired players featured in subsets (6): Lou Brock, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron