A 1980s Card Part 10 - 1985 Topps Andy Van Slyke

Before Whitey Herzog turned Jose Oquendo into a super utility player, he tried something similar with Andy Van Slyke during the 1984 season.  While he did not appear as a middle infielder, pitcher, or catcher, Van Slyke started games at every outfield spot along with the two corner infield position during both the 1983 and 1984 season.

A little odd considering Van Slyke was such a good defensive outfielder. 

Maybe just trying to find Van Slyke some extra at bats.  Either way, Topps listed Van Slyke as a third baseman on his 1985 Topps card even though he started more games as an outfielder, and the Cardinals played Terry Pendleton as the regular third baseman during the second half of the 1984 season.  

Beyond the curious position listing on the card, Van Slyke's 1985 Topps card is also one of my favorite powder blue uniformed cards from the 1980s.  His 1984 Topps card also has an action shot of Van Slyke in a powder blue, but he is looking up like a popped out to the first baseman.  This looks like it has some hopes of being a hit.  

It's a nice photograph.  I like George Hendrick standing in the background too.  No socks showing.  

Back of the card.  The trivia question is a tough.  

I like that Van Slyke was still young enough that you can see all of his Minor League stats on the back of the card.  Scott Van Slyke was born in 1986.  The son mentioned on this card is A.J. who played baseball at the University of Kansas, and was in the Cardinals Minor League system for awhile in the early 2000s.  

Friday Five: Five Things I Love About the 1985 Topps Set

I have spent the past week sorting out a bunch of the sets that I collected as a kid.  My wife was awesome enough to help out with the sorting process, but a few of the sets took a little longer to sort than normal.  I spent a good deal of time just looking at the cards as I took them out of their boxes to sort out into complete sets.  So many good memories and many great names on the cards.  One of my favorites from my first years in collecting was the 1985 Topps set.

Before I get into my five things, I encourage everyone who likes these cards to go check out the 1985 Topps Blog written by the legendary Night Owl.


5.  There Are Expos Cards 

The Expos never really won anything, but they had some good players over the years.  Plus they had really cool uniforms.  The Nationals are not quite the same thing.  One of the best parts of flipping through old 1980s and 1990s sets is the Expos cards.  While they had some of their better teams in the mid 1990s with Pedro Martinez and Larry Walker, I love the Tim Raines and Andre Dawson teams of the 1980s.  The 1985 set has plenty of good Expos cards.

4.  Blue Uniforms 

The blue road uniforms were really common in the 1970s and early part of the 1980s.  By the time the mid 1980s started to roll around the blue road uniform was on its way out the door.  My beloved Cardinals had plenty of cards featuring players in road blues in the 1985 Topps set, but by the time the 1986 Topps set rolled around many teams, including the Cardinals, had ditched the blue for grey uniforms.  Sad, but at least teams break them out occasionally still for throwback days, or alternate jerseys.

3.  Rookie Cards, But Not Clemens, Puckett, Or McGwire 

There are three really good rookies in the 1985 Topps set that many collectors know, recognize, and love: Mark McGwire, Kirby Puckett, and Roger Clemens.  However, there are some other nice rookie cards in this set beyond those three players.  Eric Davis was a good player, he has a rookie card in this set.  Bret Saberhagen, also pretty good, has a rookie card in this set.  Mark Langston, personal favorite and once traded for Randy Johnson, also has a rookie card in this set.  These rookies do not have much monetary value, and you might find them in the dime boxes at your local card shop or show, but they are still worth filing away in your collection.

2.  USA Baseball Cards 

Many people love the Mark McGwire rookie card in the USA Baseball subset.  Nice card, good player.  It was also the first really popular USA Baseball card.  Many USA Baseball products have been made in the years since the 1984 Olympic team was included in the 1985 Topps set.  I was not really big into the Olympic, or USA cards as a kid, but as an adult I have found enjoyment in collecting these cards.  I would like to think that without the USA Baseball cards in the 1985 Topps set, many of the products featuring some of the great amateur baseball players in the country would not be produced, or at least not as popular.

1.  Well Loved Cards

In the time I spent sorting out my cards from the 1985 Topps set it was plain to see which cards in my stacks I actually owned in 1985.  I was a second grader at the time and really enjoyed collecting cards.  I am not sure I really understood taking care of my cards, but I went back and recollected these cards later on as an adult.  While I sorting out my cards in to sets I have generally taken out the doubles, I am holding on to these gems from my younger years.  I did not draw, or mark on cards, but I clearly handled them frequently.  Anyway, I do not quite have a complete set of 1985 Topps cards collected by my second grade self, but I am really close.

Six Pack of Stadium Club Part 3

Third night of cool Stadium Club cards.  I am going with nineties players who appeared in the set tonight.  I spent most of the decade in high school and college which afforded me the opportunity to watch a ton of baseball.  Not all of these players are necessarily great Hall of Famers, but they were still all really fun players to watch.  Here's tonight's six cards......

#285 Tony Gwynn - Padres

Gwynn starred for the Padres over two decades.  He had some great years during the nineties including a run at .400 in 1994.  It's great to see a card of Gwynn in with some of the other great players in this set.  There is something nice about seeing a picture of Mr. Padre with a bat in his hands.  

#54 Bip Roberts - Padres

Back in 1996 Score printed a base card featuring Padres utility player Bip Roberts wearing a sombrero.  It's hard to say a card of a baseball player wearing a sombrero is iconic, but I will go ahead and say:  The 1996 Score Bip Roberts is an iconic baseball card.  Cool to see a little bit different view of the Bipster and his sombrero.  

#93 Andy Van Slyke - Pirates 

Van Slyke came up as a Cardinal, but his best years were spent on the good Pirates teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s.  I liked Van Slyke.  He played a good center field, had some speed, and a little bit of pop.  The Pirates kept Van Slyke while allowing Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek walk in free agency.  

#82 Deion Sanders - Braves 

There were three two sport stars during the 90s: Bo Jackson, Deion, and Brian Jordan.  I always thought of Bo Jackson and Brian Jordan as two sport stars who gave up football over time and became full time baseball players.  Deion kind of went the other way.  He spent time at the beginning of his career with the Yankees and Braves while starring for the Falcons as a football player.  Later in his career he became less and less of a factor in the baseball diamond.  Towards the end of the 1990s he was basically out of baseball.  I always remember Deion for speed.  I love this card of him running.  Ummm, he's got a hole in pants.  

#95 Rob Dibble - Reds 

Dibble is an interesting choice for a Stadium Club appearance.  I know he has made a few appearances in some Topps products recently, but thought this card was cool.  Dibble was a classic end of game closer from yesteryear.  Huge leg kick with a really big fastball.  My best memory of Dibble?  Giving up the fourth home run to Mark Whitten during this game.....

#226 Dennis Eckersley - Athletics 

This card is just awesome.  

30 Year Top 50: 1985 Topps

#23-If I had done a countdown of great sets a decade ago this et would have probably been in the top 5.  At worst the top 10.  No set was helped more by the steroid era in baseball and no set was hurt more by the steroid era than the 1985 Topps set.  Sure, I have always loved the design of the cards and think that, style wise, it's one of the better efforts that Topps made during the eighties.  However, this sets fate has really rested with three key rookie cards.

1985 Topps Mark McGwire 

The most important of the big 3 is the Mark McGwire rookie card, which appeared as part of the 1984 Olympic Baseball Team subset.  The card was always pretty popular and grew after McGwire set the rookie home run record in 1987.  The height of the 1985 McGwire rookie came during the home run chase of 1998.  That summer collectors went crazy for this card.  I rarely take the sales option with card shops, trades are always better, but actually ended up selling two copies to one store outside of St. Louis so they would have inventory.  It was the closet to "book" that I've ever been offered on a card by a dealer.  A week later my sales price was much closer to the 50%-60% that shops and dealers traditionally offer.  

1985 Topps Roger Clemens 

The Clemens card was also a pretty popular card shortly after its release.  Clemens shined early in his career for the Red Sox and helped them to the 1986 World Series.  By the mid 90s, Clemens began to fizzle a bit when his career was magically rejuvenated with the Blue Jays and Yankees.  For awhile, the Clemens card was riding the coat tails of the McGwire rookie card.  After all, there is a better Clemens rookie out there for collectors to chase.  By the end of Clemens Yankees years he had crossed 300 wins and 3000 strikeouts, Hall of Fame benchmarks for a pitcher, and his rookie card was a stand alone in the set.  

1985 Topps Kirby Puckett

This has always been my favorite Kirby Puckett rookie card.  I love the old powder blue Twins uniforms with the red TC hats.  Classic and distinctly 80s.  Puckett would go on to win a pair of World Series titles with the Twins and a batting title or two.  He retired early because of an eye injury and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001.  Puckett died at the age of 45 in 2006.  His card is the least valuable of the big three rookies, but it's value has always remained pretty steady and his legacy as a Hall of Fame player has never been in question.  

McGwire and Clemens would get caught up in the cloud of steroids and their standing as Hall of Famers has been called into question.  Both of their cards from this set are both highly sought after and popular cards, but lack the same value the both once possessed.  

Like the 1985 Topps set?  Not in my Top 50 countdown is the 1984 Topps.  I considered putting this set in the Top 50 for style and design, but it lacks a quality star rookie card.  I have always loved the block writing down the side of the card showing the team name, different colors for each team, and the two pictures on the card.  I have always thought of this set as the square eighties version of the 1963 Topps set.  I already gave this set a little love last spring.   

1984 Topps Don Mattingly

The best rookie cards in the set belong to Darryl Strawberry and Don Mattingly.  Mattingly is the most popular card of the two.  It's an easy card to find and inexpensive to purchase.  I was never a huge fan of Mattingly, the player version.  He was often injured and did play well when he was healthy, but I believe that longevity should be a part of voters considerations when electing players into the Hall of Fame.  My 2 cents.  

1984 Topps Andy Van Slyke

Similar to the 1985 Topps set, the 84 version, had plenty of great 80s players wearing great polyester uniforms.  My Cardinals are wearing a lot of powder blue uniforms, like this Andy Slyke.  I normally plug going out and buying the set at the end of my posts.  However, for something different, I am going to recommend you pick up a wax box of the 84 Topps.  They can be found for less than $50 and can be a blast to open.  Think about it this way: Instead of buying that box of high end Topps product, buy or trade for a couple of cool singles, take your savings and sink it into a box of these awesome cards.  Just don't chew the gum.