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The 10 Most Memorable Baseball Cards of the 1980s
C'mon...admit it...you collected baseball cards as a kid in the 1980s. In that wonderful, horrible time for sports cards, companies started to increase production and prices went up as kids and adults alike tried to strike it rich by collecting cards. Of course, the prices went down and most people are left with useless junk in the attic of their childhood home. Sad, very sad...but I'd like to take a more nostalgic approach to that time in our lives. Here are, in order from 10-1, The 10 Most Memorable 80s Baseball Cards...
1987 Topps Barry Bonds
1983 Topps Tony Gwynn
1983 Topps Ryne Sandberg
1980 Topps Rickey Henderson
1985 Topps Roger Clemens
1989 Fleer Billy Ripken
1982 Topps Cal Ripken Jr.
1986 Donruss Jose Canseco
1984 Topps Don Mattingly
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.
I think everyone would agree on number 1...that Griffey card is downright iconic. There were a few notable admissions like the 1983 Topps Wade Boggs rookie card, the 1985 Topps Mark McGwire rookie card and the 1987 Donruss Greg Maddux rookie card. Also, the Mattingly and Canseco cards come in over the rookie cards of better players and the Billy Ripken card isn't in the same class as the other cards at all. Remember, this is a list of the 10 Most Memorable Baseball Cards of the 1980s, not the 10 best cards.
no '85 Mark McGwire Team USA? It would be top 3 for me.
The list is a bit too Topps-obsessed...
Half of the cards on this list almost get it right while less than half have it totally right (86 Donruss Canseco, 89 Upper Deck Griffey Jr., 89 Fleer Billy Ripken, 80 Topps Henderson). But "almost right" still means the card doesn't belong there...a different, similar one does. Also, the 83 Topps Ryne Sanberg doesn't belong at all. I would nominate the 84 Fleer Update Clemens.
84 Topps Mattingly should be Donruss.
83 Topps Gwynn should be Boggs.
87 Topps Bonds should be Fleer.
82 Topps Ripken should be Topps Traded.
85 Topps Clemens should be McGwire
Honorable Mention 87 Donruss Greg Maddux
I would also love a biggest cards of the 80s in the 80s top 10...
87 Topps Wally Joyner
87 Fleer Will Clark
81 Fleer Fernando Valenzuela
83 Topps Traded Darryl Strawberry
84 Fleer Update Dwight Gooden
84 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett
88 Fleer Gregg Jeffries
86 Topps Vince Coleman
85 Donruss Eric Davis
86 Donruss Danny Tartabull
...in no particular order. I'm probably missing a few including some from the Donruss The Rookies subset.