One of our jaunts on YouTube this week was a stroll through big-dollar recent sales for Pete Rose cards …
Can you guess which card featured prominently in those listings?
Yeah, it’s the leadoff hitter on today’s roster of cards that always made a 1980s and/or 1990s card show gasp whenever they appeared on a dealer table …
1963 Topps Pete Rose Rookie Card (#537)
When Rose returned to the Cincinnati Reds in a jaw-dropping trade in August of 1984 that made him both player and manager, the stage was set for one of baseball’s great acts: Charlie Hustle would chase down Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record back on the Riverfront while trying to lead his Red out of their early-1980s muck.
It was all great drama and rocketed Rose’s cards to the top of hobby hot lists. Over the next 13 months this colorful swath of cardboard would become the most recognizable and coveted in the whole hobby outside of the ‘52 Topps Mantle.
And you always knew when a Rose rookie made an appearance at a show: the usual murmurs on the floor crescendoed to a roar as the throng gathered around the lucky dealer’s table.
1968 Topps Nolan Ryan Rookie Card (#177)
By 1991, Rose was out of the game, disgraced by his betting scandal.
Meanwhile, Nolan Ryan had picked up the veteran legend mantle and run with it.
As the no-hitters and strikeouts piled up, and as 300 wins disappeared in the rearview mirror, Ryan’s cards climbed to places none others had been before.
And any appearance of a Ryan rookie — regardless of condition — at a card show was like having Elvis show up at your high school band concert.
1984 Donruss Don Mattingly Rookie Card (#248)
No one outside of Evansville and the Yankees locker room knew who Don Mattingly was entering the 1984 season.
By the All-Star break, though, the Bombers’ young first baseman was giving teammate Dave Winfield all he could handle in the race for the American League batting title, while adding a fair hunk of power to the mix.
Also by then, we had all pretty much figured out that 1984 Donruss cards were hard to come by, and that they looked great.
That combination — shiny new bright star in the New York baseball firmament plus a beautiful and scarce rookie card — was just the cocktail the hobby needed to light a showroom on fire whenever a Mattingly emerged from a pack.
1987 Donruss Wax Packs
While 1987 Topps cards were busy becoming love-them-or-hate-them hobby classics, Donruss and Fleer were busying being nonexistent.
Well, almost.
The general gist of the market that spring was that you either had limited amounts of Donruss in your town, or limited amounts of Fleer, or maybe none of either.
And so, a box of 1987 Donruss or Fleer wax packs were always a big hit, and it wasn’t unusual to see packs flying off the table for $3-4 a pop.
1990 Leaf Frank Thomas Rookie Card (#300)
The early 1990s were all about experimentation and excess, as new card companies sprang up from the dust on a weekly basis, and all of them issued thousands of different sets trying to see what would stick.
One idea that stuck was an escalation of card quality — premium, super premium, supreme premium, unleaded diesel premium deluxe with anchovies. Every set seemed to up the bar.
At first, it seemed like 1990 Leaf was just another rung in the ladder, spanning the gap between 1989 Upper Deck and 1991 Stadium Club.
But then came the second series, leading off with Nolan Ryan and rolling out a Frank Thomas rookie card about the same time the Big Hurt made his debut for the Chicago White Sox.
Collectors couldn’t get enough … and neither could dealers. Unopened boxes were like manna sprinkled down on us all at card shows, and only a few of us got to eat.
But we all flocked to watch the feast.
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What cards do YOU remember lighting up a show like no others?
I’d love to hear your memories.
Until next time, may all your wax packs have tight seals.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam