1981-1988 Underrated?

[Blackless Collector]

1984 Nestlé Nolan Ryan

[RayBShotz]

Not on your original list but my favorite 80's set is still ultra cheap.
1988 Topps Big - A real homage to the 1956 Topps set with great content.
RayB

[gustomania]

Those Big Baseball are awesome!!!

Here’s another one under the radar. 1300 total graded and only 150 PSA 10s. In general in person these are beautiful cards of any player and inexpensive.

In terms of Bonds there is only 2 PSA 10s on eBay with 1 listed at 1150 best offer and one at auction with starting bid at like $995. I expect eventually these to catch up and people realize the LT value.

[Peter_Spaeth]

No love for Tommy, not even a mention.

[gustomania]

I need one of these, agree and I’ll bucket Smoltz Tiffany in that space.

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

No love for Tommy, not even a mention.

[Peter_Spaeth]

And I guess it's easy to gloss over these two.

[4reals]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

No love for Tommy, not even a mention.

Tommy who? Never heard of him..,


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[ZiggerZagger]

Great stuff in this thread! It's amazing how many absolutely classic card designs came out of those '80's sets. Just beautiful. The offbeat stuff is great too.

Growing up a Cubs fan in the 80's was special, with all the daytime games on WGN during the summer. Here are a few mainstream and off the beaten path 80's Cubbies favorites of mine.

80023.jpg87091.jpg87011.jpg

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by ZiggerZagger

Growing up a Cubs fan in the 80's was special, with all the daytime games on WGN during the summer.

I didn't grow up in Chicago, but my friends and I became big Cubs fans watching Harry and Steve on WGN every afternoon after school.

Classic, durham sandberg bowa/dunston cey davis matthews dernier moreland

[Chicosbailbonds]

Love the 1988 Score set. Very clean design and always liked backs that had a little blurb or two about the player. Its neck and neck with the 1984 Donruss set for me.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

So much goodness in this thread! I remember being a kid just dying to have an '84 Fleer Update set but never being able to afford it. What a great decade! As I get older, my appreciation for my own childhood and my own era grows. I have long collected the 1950s, and it was a great time in baseball history. However, it wasn't my era. I treasure my 80s cards, and there are so many more I want! I love having the sets, because I even remember the common players and not only the stars. The only plastic I need for this era are 9 pocket pages and Cardsavers/toploaders. While I want reasonably sharp cards, I don't need my 80s cards to be graded. The '82 Blackless cards are awesome! While I don't have as many as I would like, that's something I'd like to work on. I also very much enjoy '84 Topps encased.

[Blackless Collector]

1982 Topps Hector Cruz Blackless

Originally Posted by Chicosbailbonds

Love the 1988 Score set. Very clean design and always liked backs that had a little blurb or two about the player. Its neck and neck with the 1984 Donruss set for me.

I love that set also. Just finished my custom art for my sets binder

[deweyinthehall]

I just completed putting together master sets from this era, specifically the years during which I collected as a kid (81-91).

My own personal favorite sets, based solely on looks (as opposed to value, rookie cards, variations or anything else):
1981 Fleer
1983 Topps
1987 Topps
1987 Donruss
1988 Topps
1989 Topps
1990 Fleer
1991 Upper Deck

As someone who sorted cards by teams (then and now as I ripped packs) most of the non-Topps issues were maddening because they were hard to sort in this fashion at high speed - nothing much to go on other than an often small team logo. That's one of the reasons 1990 Fleer was such a welcome change of pace.

I've often heard that it was good for Topps to get the competition in 1981 - that they had grown stale. But I think that with the exception of 1979, the sets of the 1970s (and 1980 for that matter) were some of the best ever. By contrast, I count 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1990 as some of their worst looking offerings, and this when they had to compete against 2, then 3 then 4 competitors.

[Mike D.]

Fun era and fun post! I feel like with the price jumps of the last year, the era is finally getting some respect.

I love that the designs are so different and so subjective. 100 people's top 10 lists will be all different.

I really liked '82-87 Donruss, '83 and '84 Topps, '88 Score, and '89 UD. I'm not sure Fleer made a good looking set the whole decade, IMHO...although I think '84 is my favorite.

The other great thing about the 80's is the the regular sets were still the draw...no inserts. But there were a million "small box sets" out there for every taste, from every department store, drug store, etc.