Essential Collections: 1983 Topps Big Three Rookies

The early 1980s were a bit of a tough time for baseball cards. The only great card to come out of the 1980 and 1981 Topps sets was the 1980 Rickey Henderson rookie card. The 1982 set featured the rookie card of Cal Ripken, but not much else. Besides that, we were stuck with rookie of Steve Sax, Rick Sutcliffe, Dave Stewart, and Tim Raines. Not exactly terrible players, but not exactly stars either. We also had superstars like Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield on some very unattractive cards. When Donruss and Fleer came around in 1981, they had the same players on even more unattractive cards. Things were not looking good.

Then the 1983 Topps set came along and changed everything for card collecting. The action photos were not the best but the cards now featured a cleaner border and a headshot of the player. The stars such as Henderson, Ryan, Ripken, Winfield, and Jackson were still around but what really made the set was the inclusion of the rookie cards of three future Hall of Famers; Tony Gwynn (pictured left), Ryne Sandberg, and Wade Boggs. This would make it the set that would push card collecting to the era of great looking sets and highly sought after rookies before overproduction killed the hobby just a few short years later.

Owning all three cards is a must for any 1980s baseball card collector. They have actually come down in value since the 1980s card boom and can be found on sites like eBay at affordable prices. Originally the most popular of the three, the Wade Boggs card (pictured right), features a terrible picture of the former Boston Red Sox third baseman. Nevertheless it was extremely popular when he and the San Diego Padres Gwynn were perennial Batting Champion contenders for the rest of the 1980s. As Gwynn became more and more popular the two cards would go back and forth in price an popularity until today when, depending on grade, both cards go at a similar price.

Probably the most popular of the cards over the course of the 25+ years since the set was released has been the Sandberg rookie (pictured right). This was probably because Sandberg played for the Chicago Cubs who have among the largest fan bases in baseball. It could also be because he won the NL MVP in just his 3rd full season in 1984, just a year after this card was released. He revolutionized the second base position with his ability to hit for power paving the way for the slugging second baseman of today. Sandberg was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with Boggs, in 2005. Gwynn would join them there in 2007.

Not since perhaps the 1975 Topps Set, with George Brett, Jim Rice, Robin Yount, and Gary Carter, have card collectors seen a crop of rookies like they did in 1983. Sets released in the following years would include rookies of such highly collected greats as Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds but none have quite the charm of that 1983 Topps Set. This has to be called an essential collection.

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