Help! - Best players for 1958-1980 baseball card display

[MCoxon]

Hi there - few thoughts:

1) Irvin only played until 1955/56, so doesn't fit the '58-80 time. He was an early HOFer, in spite of only 1-2 great MLB years, especially '51 when he finished #3 in MVP voting. That said he's a favorite of mine, have his whole run from Topps + Bowman, and his 53B and 55T are particularly awesome

2) Minoso. Gotta keep him. He will be in the HOF shortly, esp. with his passing, and he is as you say a poor man's Clemente. So, even just for the spirit and his ambassadorship of the game through his retirement, I'd keep him. He has tons of awesome cards to choose from (53B, 54 Red Heart, 53T, 59T, among many others)

3) Tony Oliva . I hope he's on your top 50? This guy is always my favorite pick for best non-HOFer, and frankly, one of the top players in 64-71 (before injuries). 3-time batting champ, 5-time hits leader, he was a sure-fire HOFer until injuries in his later career. Also, he has some of the coolest looking cards, especially 65, 66, 67 topps

I'm a huge fan of Cuban players too, which is why both Minoso and Oliva are so high in my personal list - I think they double-integrated to some degree (especially Minoso, who broke in in 1949 with CLE before several teams had integrated, and at a time when he also spoke only Spanish)