Because, while many consider Rice to be the greatest all-around football player who ever lived, and while he eventually appeared on plenty of football cards, the truth is, his debut came while the gridiron hobby was still mired in something of a Dark Ages.

Indeed, even though five years had passed — an eternity in modern hobby terms — since Joe Montana rookie cards went live in 1981, not much had changed by the time the fellow 49ers legends and future Hall of Famers connected in cardboard for the very first time.

But, even with limited options (or maybe because of them), Jerry Rice rookie cards remain some of the most popular football collectibles of all time.

Here is the complete rundown of Flash 80’s very first football cards.

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1986 McDonald’s 49ers Jerry Rice – Black Tab (#80)

Even though Fleer and Donruss had crashed the baseball card party back in 1981 (the same year those Super Joe rookies came out), Topps was still the only game in football cards by the middle of the decade.

But then, as the Chicago Bears were cruising toward Super Bowl XX in the late fall of 1985 and into early 1986, McDonald’s joined the Shuffle party with a Kickoff Payoff promotion in the Windy City.

Specifically, the Golden Arches released a set of 32 cards featuring Bears players and coaches, each with a tab that afforded customers the chance to earn prizes based on how the team performed in a given playoff round — or in the Big Game itself.

The promotion was popular enough that McDonald’s expanded to include all 28 NFL teams in their follow-up promotion in the fall of 1986, with each team’s cards available in restaurants in areas surrounding the club’s home turf.

Each team was represented by 24 different cards (25 for the Dallas Cowboys), along with a 30-card McDonald’s All-Star issue that was available nationwide, outside of the established NFL markets.

That made for a huge 703-card set made even huger by four tab variations.

Specifically, there was one color of game tab used for each of the four weeks of the Mickey D’s NFL promotion — black, blue, green, and orange.

So that’s a lot of explanation before we ever even get to Rice, but as you might have guessed, the budding young receiver was part of the San Francisco 49ers McDonald’s set released in the Bay Area that fall. Since the cards themselves were unnumbered, they’re usually listed by the player’s uniform number, which appears on card fronts.

That means we get Jerry Rice at #80, just like we’d see streaking down NFL fields for 20 full seasons.

This black-tab version is the most common, according to the PSA Population Report, but not by much — as of November 2022, the grading company had processed 89 copies of this card, with a plurality (33) of them checking in at PSA 8 condition.

These cards don’t come up for sale all that often, and the most recent selling prices have been sort of all over the place. But looking at auction prices realized for other grades and considering the booming collectibles market of 2020-22, you can probably expect price tags in the $300-350 range for a PSA 8 copy of this Jerry Rice rookie card.

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1986 McDonald’s 49ers Jerry Rice – Blue Tab (#80)

This blue-tab version of the McDonald’s Rice rookie is a bit less populous — PSA has graded 63 through November 2022 — but is otherwise identical to the black-tab version above.

As such, you should expect much the same when it comes to value — $300-350 for a copy in PSA 8 … if you can find one.

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1986 McDonald’s 49ers Jerry Rice – Green Tab (#80)

Different tab, same basic story.

The PSA population for this green variety hovers around 81 as 2022 heads into the home stretch, providing little reason to expect anything other than a similar $300-350 price tag.

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1986 McDonald’s 49ers Jerry Rice – Orange Tab (#80)

This final McDonald’s version of the Jerry Rice rookie card shows the same sunshine-y image of the guy who would eventually rewrite the NFL receiving record book as all the others above … but with an orange tab.

This one checks in on the lower end of the population spectrum along with the blue-tab version, but seems to be slightly tougher from a condition standpoint. Still, the $300-350 range probably isn’t too far out of line for a copy graded PSA 8.

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1986 Topps Jerry Rice (#161)

Of course, as great and fun as the McDonald’s cards are, with their relative scarcity and colorful variation, it’s this 1986 Topps Jerry Rice rookie card that really set the hobby on fire when Gentleman Jerry began to dismantle NFL defenses.

By the time this card was issued, Rice already had one season under his belt, a 1985 campaign that saw him play in all 16 games but record just four starts. That overall lack of playing time didn’t curtail Rice’s production much, though — 49 catches, 927 yards, three touchdowns.

By the end of the 1986 season, Rice had really given collectors a reason to pull his RC aside as it came out of wax packs — 86 catches for league-leading totals in yards (1570) and touchdowns (15).

It was off to the races from there, as Montana-to-Rice became as legendary a pairing as the sports world has ever seen, and as Rice himself went about redefining what was possible from the wide receiver position. Like Michael Jordan in basketball, Montana and Rice helped elevate football in the hobby, too, with rookie cards that drew attention and drove demand like none before them.

You could make a solid argument that the Niners’ superstars, along with a few others like Walter Payton, Dan Marino, and John Elway, helped whet collector appetites for the proliferation of new sets that exploded onto the scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Rice never really let up on the pedal, either, demolishing the record book on his way to the Hall of Fame in Canton, and pushing his rookie card into record territory, too.

In today’s noisy market, plenty of other cards have nudged the 1986 Topps Rice from the limelight, and outrageous prices for nearly-new cards are becoming the norm.

No matter how much glitz and glamor the new issues unleash, though, there are few cards that can touch the Rice RC in terms of historical significance.

And, with those green borders and diagonal white yard lines, this particular piece of history also presents some condition difficulties.

Here in the latter part of 2022, you can expect prices around $175-200 for copies in PSA 8 condition. Bump that up to the graded MINT (PSA 9) level, and you’re looking at a “buy” price in the neighborhood of $2000.

And if you want a perfect “10”? Might have to put that luxury car on hold for awhile, because your $80,000 is going to be tied up in cardboard.

No matter which route you run to this king of the Jerry Rice rookie cards, though, you know it’s going to be a touchdown in the end.

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Indeed, those early sets helped to turn the hobby’s thinking around completely when it came to football cards. All through the boom of the 1980s, other sports had lagged behind baseball in popularity, but there were plenty of football and basketball collectors waiting in the wings.

Then … Pro Set and Score both showed up on the scene in one fell swoop, there we were awash in football cards. Pro Set flooded the market, though, leaving the more limited inaugural Score issue as a standard-bearer among 1989 cards today.

And, while Score has had its ups and downs over the years, they’ve never been far from the hobby spotlight, even when they weren’t actually producing cards … for the moment.

Here is a complete rundown of our blog posts detailing all the grandeur, silliness, hope, and tribulations of Score football cards.

• 1988 Score Football Cards
• 1989 Score Football Cards
• 1990 Score Football Cards
• 1991 Score Football Cards
• 1992 Score Football Cards
• 1993 Score Football Cards
• 1994 Score Football Cards
• 1995 Score Football Cards
• 1996 Score Football Cards
• 1997 Score Football Cards
• 1998 Score Football Cards
• 1999 Score Football Cards
• 2000 Score Football Cards
• 2001 Score Football Cards
• 2002 Score Football Cards
• 2003 Score Football Cards
• 2004 Score Football Cards
• 2005 Score Football Cards
• 2006 Score Football Cards
• 2007 Score Football Cards
• 2008 Score Football Cards
• 2009 Score Football Cards
• 2010 Score Football Cards
• 2011 Score Football Cards
• 2012 Score Football Cards
• 2013 Score Football Cards
• 2014 Score Football Cards
• 2015 Score Football Cards
• 2016 Score Football Cards
• 2017 Score Football Cards
• 2018 Score Football Cards
• 2019 Score Football Cards
• 2020 Score Football Cards
• 2021 Score Football Cards
• 2022 Score Football Cards
• 2023 Score Football Cards

Of course, Bowman and Leaf have gone through a few permutations over the decades, while Topps has had its own dramas (not the least of which is their recent acquisition by Fanatics!).

Through it all, though, collectors could always count on the new batch of Topps gridiron cards each fall.

Here, then, is our complete list of articles dedicated to Topps fooball cards, which we update on a frequent basis … check back soon!

• 1948 Topps Football Cards – Magic Photos Football Thrills
• 195o Topps Footballl Cards – Felt Backs
• 1951 Topps Magic Football Cards
• 1955 Topps All-American Football Cards
• 1956 Topps Football Cards
• 1957 Topps Football Cards
• 1958 Topps Football Cards
• 1959 Topps Football Cards
• 1960 Topps Football Cards
• 1961 Topps Football Cards
• 1962 Topps Football Cards
• 1963 Topps Football Cards
• 1964 Topps Football Cards
• 1965 Topps Football Cards
• 1966 Topps Football Cards
• 1967 Topps Football Cards
• 1968 Topps Football Cards
• 1969 Topps Football Cards
• 1970 Topps Football Cards
• 1971 Topps Football Cards
• 1972 Topps Football Cards
• 1973 Topps Football Cards
• 1974 Topps Football Cards
• 1975 Topps Football Cards
• 1976 Topps Football Cards
• 1977 Topps Football Cards
• 1978 Topps Football Cards
• 1979 Topps Football Cards
• 1980 Topps Football Cards
• 1981 Topps Football Cards
• 1982 Topps Football Cards
• 1983 Topps Football Cards
• 1984 Topps Football Cards
• 1985 Topps Football Cards
• 1986 Topps Football Cards
• 1987 Topps Football Cards
• 1988 Topps Football Cards
• 1989 Topps Football Cards
• 1990 Topps Football Cards
• 1991 Topps Football Cards
• 1992 Topps Football Cards
• 1993 Topps Football Cards
• 1994 Topps Football Cards
• 1995 Topps Football Cards
• 1996 Topps Football Cards
• 1997 Topps Football Cards
• 1998 Topps Football Cards
• 1999 Topps Football Cards
• 2000 Topps Football Cards
• 2001 Topps Football Cards
• 2002 Topps Football Cards
• 2003 Topps Football Cards
• 2004 Topps Football Cards
• 2005 Topps Football Cards
• 2006 Topps Football Cards
• 2007 Topps Football Cards
• 2008 Topps Football Cards
• 2009 Topps Football Cards
• 2010 Topps Football Cards
• 2011 Topps Football Cards
• 2012 Topps Football Cards
• 2013 Topps Football Cards
• 2014 Topps Football Cards
• 2015 Topps Football Cards
• 2016 Topps Football Cards
• 2017 Topps Football Cards
• 2018 Topps Football Cards
• 2019 Topps Football Cards
• 2020 Topps Football Cards
• 2021 Topps Football Cards
• 2022 Topps Football Cards
• 2023 Topps Football Cards

1990 Pro Set Football Cards – 10 Most Popular

1991 Pro Set Football Cards – 10 Most Popular

See a history of Pro Set trading cards on Wikipedia.

After all, that 1981 Topps Montana was the first gridiron RC to explode during the 1980s hobby boom at the same time Super Joe was building his reputation as the greatest Big Game quarterback ever (yeah, times change).

And there were no other major card manufacturers at the time, with Fleer being the closest but relegated to producing team-focused, game-action cards rather than singles of individual players.

Truth is, though, that ’81 Topps classic is not alone on the field of Montana rookie cards, even though that field is nowhere near crowded.

Ready for the big reveal?

OK, then — here is the complete rundown of Joe Montana rookie CARDS, even if the concept still sounds wrong.

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1981 Topps Joe Montana Rookie Card (#216)

This is the card everyone knows about, the one that shows a young Montana in his San Francisco 49ers uniform, warming up that right arm of his in the sunshine. It was a sight that would become iconic over the next decade as Montana and coach Bill Walsh (and countless other stars and superstars) lifted the Niners from the depths of the NFL’s second division to winners of multiple Super Bowls.

Along the way, Montana’s rookie card also helped raise football cards from the dark recesses of the hobby into the limelight — maybe not quite as brightly lit as the baseball card market, but certainly one that could sustain double-digit prices for even modern cards.

Indeed, with Montana’s RC leading the way, new superstars saw prices for their own rookies escalate all through the 1980s — Dan Marino, Eric Dickerson, Lawrence Taylor, John Elway, Jerry Rice, and on and on and on. All of their rookies became showcase fodder before the decade was out, and all of them could thank Montana and his RC for getting the ball rolling (not that the players themselves cared).

Today, with all of the hype around newer cards and younger generations of superstars, the Montana rookie doesn’t get as much focus as it did during Bird Leg’s prime.

Still, the modern market loves this card, and it has continued to increase in value — big time! — over the decades.

Through August of 2021, there had been about 53,000 submissions made to PSA for 1981 Topps football cards. Of those, a whopping 18,000 were Montana rookie cards.

And, while there don’t seem to be specific condition concerns with the ’81s in general, they’re still “old” cards at this point, so really top-grade specimens are tough to come by. Indeed, nearly 85% of the Montana cards submitted to PSA fall to PSA 8 or lower.

Not surprisingly, there is a big price jump as you move into PSA 9 and 10 conditions — here are the most recent selling prices for Montanas across the upper part of the grading spectrum, according to the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool in January of 2022:

• PSA 6: $157.50
• PSA 7: $226.59
• PSA 8: $410
• PSA 9: $2175
• PSA 10: $66,198

No matter what price level you’re looking at, though, “the” Joe Montana rookie card is a stone-cold hobby legend … even if it’s not the only Montana RC.

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1981 MSA Holsum Discs Joe Montana

This is the “card” that upsets the 1981 Topps Montana applecart, and it really is a card, even thought it’s shaped kinda funny.

If you were a collector in the 1970s — especially if you collected baseball cards — or if you’ve done even a bit of studying about the issues of those days, then you’re probably already familiar with MSA cards, even if the name doesn’t sound familiar to you.

See, MSA stands for Mike Schechter Associates, a company that produced nearly countless sets of baseball discs during the 1970s, released in conjunction with products ranging from Papa Gino’s pizza to Isaly dairy to Burger Chef kids’ meals.

Lacking an MLB license meant MSA couldn’t show team logos on their cards, so they became famous for their airbrushed blank baseball caps.

Fast forward to 1981, switch sports, and add in some simple carbs, and you find MSA still chugging along, this time partnering with Holsum to release a series of football discs in loaves of bread.

The 32-card set was fairly loaded with quarterbacks, including big names like Terry Bradshaw and Ken Anderson, as well as a few other position players and younger QBs. Among those early-career passers was a kid named Joe Montana, who appeared in incognito mode with long hair and a longer mustache we seldom saw as his star grew.

Even though these discs are just as old as the 1981 Topps cards, their smaller size and firmer cardstock have left them in better shape, statistically speaking. To wit, PSA has graded 300+ of the Holsum disks, with more than 70% of them receiving a PSA 9 or 10 grade.

Indeed, there have been more 10s recorded than 8s.

The Montana disc comes pretty close to those ratios, too — a total of 78 cards graded, with 57 of them checking in at a PSA 9 or 10.

Only one copy of the Montana “rookie disc” has sold in PSA 10 condition, though, and it brought $400 way back in 2018.

More recently, PSA 9 copies are trading in the $350 range, with PSA 8s pushing north of $100.

Are these bargain prices, considering the costs of the 1981 Topps Montana card?

That’s a determination to be made largely in the eye of the beholder (collector/investor), but this 1981 MSA Holsum disc is most certainly undersold in its status as a second Joe Montana rookie card.

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—

So, you see, “Joe Montana rookie cards” is the correct term, even if that Holsum humdinger has a steep road ahead if it hopes to useat the 1981 Topps Joe Montana rookie card (singular!) anytime soon.

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After all, here was a guy who came out of Pitt with a chip on his shoulder after falling to 27th in the 1983 Draft after a drop-off in performance in his senior season and some ugly rumors about his life off the field.

Real or not, fair or not, the storm of controversy sapped what looked to be a top-tier draft profile and left Marino looking up at five other QBs when the picks were in.

But it also left him with the Miami Dolphins, defending AFC champions, and paired with Hall of Fame coach Don Shula — not to mention other offensive weapons like Mark Duper, Andra Franklin,

Intro paragraph

1984 7-Eleven Discs Dan Marino (#15E)

It’s tough to confirm all these years on, but there is at least a possibility that 7-Eleven stores of a 1984 vintage could offer more Dan Marino splendor than any other retail space in the land.

After all, it’s easy to imagine packs of Topps football card stuffed up under a low shelf, between the Gummi Bears and Big League Chew, and underneath the hanging packs of jerky.

And, where there are Topps wax packs, there just may be paper packs of Topps Stickers.

Then, of course, at 7-Eleven, you could always wash down your purchases with a brain-snapping Slurpee. If you were perusing one of the branded convenience stores on the east coast that fall of 1984, your cup might have featured a magic-motion coin featuring the Dolphins’ gunslinger.

Today, you’ll have to pay a bit more for the privilege of owning a psychedelic Marino disc than the cost of a brain freeze.

Value: $150-200

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1984 Dolphins Police Dan Marino (#9)

The Dolphins teamed up in 1984 with Miami law enforcement as well as other local agencies (Kiwanis, hospitals, etc.) to produce a set of over-tall cards featuring 16 players and legendary coach Don Shula.

Despite a start-studded lineup that included the likes of Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, A.J. Duhe, Dwight Stephenson, and others, though, it was — and is — Marino who carries this set.

Surprise!

Value: $45-55

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1984 Topps Dan Marino (#123)

This is it. The one. The big kahuna of Dan Marino rookie cards.

Heck, for a lot of years, the 1984 Topps Marino was the big kahuna among all 1980s rookie cards, or at least those outside of the 1981 Topps Joe Montana RC.

A couple of old-man Super Bowl titles for John Elway sort of dampened the relative impact of this card, but it was still the Marino rookie (and to a slightly lesser extent the Eric Dickerson RC) that redefined what we might expect from values of a *new* football card right out of the pack.

If you check into the PSA 10 market, you’ll find prices in the $4000+ range. That makes our mere MINT targets look almost cheap by comparison.

Value: $325-350

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1984 Topps Dan Marino Instant Replay (#124)

If you were lucky enough to get your hands on a Marino rookie card at #123, you had to find a way to add #124 to your collection, too.

They were a matched pair!

And, though this 1984 Topps Instant Replay card has never walked with the swagger of Marino’s base RC, it’s spent 40 years trouncing all over most mere superstar cards of the era.

Value: $30-50

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1984 Topps NFL Star Set Dan Marino (#3)

Inserted one per rack pack, the 1984 Topps NFL Star set was a run of 11 super glossy cards on thick, white cardstock. As with some others on this list the Marino “rookie” here had to elbow for daylight among some other great names. Here, consider the full checklist:

• Curt Warner
• Eric Dickerson
• Dan Marino
• Steve Bartkowski
• Todd Christensen
• Roy Green
• Charlie Brown
• Earnest Gray
• Mark Gastineau
• Fred Dean
• Lawrence Taylor

Only Dickerson could hold a candle to Marino when it came to hobby appeal, and even his beastly flame didn’t burn as long. (Yes, LT eventually got into that realm, too.)

Value: $150-200

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1984 Topps Passing Leaders Dan Marino/Steve Bartkowski (#202)

Can’t you just hear the theme to The Odd Couple streaming from this card?

Bartkowski was a good quarterback, to be sure. Great at times, even.

I mean, heck … he did lead the NFC in passing yards in 1983.

With 3167.

Marino had only 2210.

We won’t talk too much about their follow-up seasons other than to say *cough* 2158 to 5084.

Yeah, this is a Marino card.

Value: $20-25

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1984 Topps Stickers Dan Marino/Nolan Cromwell (#144)

This baby is sort of the sticky equivalent of that Bartkowski-Marino number up there.

Nolan Cromwell was a Rams legend and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-1980s team.

He was also a Pro Bowler in 1983, which landed him next to Marino here in shiny-foil land.

Second fiddle is no shameful fate when first chair is #13.

Value: $30-50

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1984 Topps Stickers Dan Marino (#222)

Of course, Marino got his own, solo rookie sticker in the 1984 Topps set, too.

Well, nearly solo.

The photo-bombing lineman apparently loved watching Marino work so much that he went sans-helmet to avoid any obstructed views.

Value: $100-150

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But no matter how expensive (or not) the card is, every Barry Sanders rookie card represents a significant chunk of history.

After all, here you have the guy many (me included) consider to be the greatest running back in NFL history, and one who left us all wanting more when he retired at age 30 in 1998 (though we got .

Not only that … Sanders’ debut AND rookie cards coincided exactly with the debut of several new football card sets after decades of a virtual monopoly for Topps.

What follows is a rundown of all those glorious Sanders RCs, plus a few bonus listings — you’ll understand why they’re here when you read those bits below.

In each case, I’ve also included the approximate current market value of each Barry Sanders rookie card based on sales for PSA 9 cards listed in the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool as of late summer 2022.

Things change fast in this market, though, so you can always check current listings on eBay and Amazon with the links included in each section and by clicking on the card images (affiliate links).

Now, with all that out of the way, it’s time for some Barry Sanders cardboard eye candy.

Hut! Hut!

(If you want to see even more early Barry Sanders football cards issued as he made his case for Canton, check out our article here.)

1989 Lions Police Barry Sanders (#11)

OK, so this card doesn’t hail from one of those new sets that debuted right alongside Sanders in 1989. Instead, this is the second regional set of “police” cards sponsored by Oscar Mayer and Claussen and issued in the Detroit area.

But, while a multiplayer card featuring Bennie Blades, Chris Spielman, Pat Carter was about the best the 1988 set could muster, the 1989 issue stepped up big time with an at-the-podium shot of Sanders in Lions powder blue, likely on the day Detroit made him the third overall pick in that June’s NFL Draft.

Today, this outstanding card sells in the neighborhood of $45 in PSA condition.

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1989 Pro Set Barry Sanders (#494)

If the Junk Wax Era hadn’t already been a thing — even if we hadn’t so named it yet — there’s a pretty good bet Pro Set would have invented the concept with their 1989 set.

This stuff was everywhere, and it was evident right out of the pack that the cards weren’t exactly Cadillacs of the hobby.

Still, it was super exciting to hold cards not made by Topps of individual players, and printed on white card stock instead of the mushy brown stuff we were used to.

It was slightly disappointing to see Sanders in his college uniform, but these were the days before Photoshop and digital photography at your fingertips at all times, so it was to be expected — that or airbrushing!

All these years later, there are probably millions of these RCs running around out there, but nice PSA 9 copies still trade in the $30-40 range.

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1989 Score Barry Sanders (#257)

Score, on the other hand, bucked the trend of both the other football card companies and its own propensities in the baseball card market.

In particular, they seemed to take a sort of wait-and-see approach with their new venture onto the gridiron, with anecdotal regional reports from around the hobby indicating that Score football wasn’t quite as easy to, um, score as its counterparts in the market.

And, while, 1989 Score football is not scarce in any real sense of the word, this set has maintained an air of superiority among the year’s issues as the decades roll by, and the colored borders make top-end copies tough to come by.

In the case of the smiling Barry Sanders rookie card, that means a sticker price of about $120 in PSA 9 condition.

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1989 Topps Traded Barry Sanders (#83T)

After nearly a decade of cranking out year-end update sets for the baseball card market and suddenly staring at a competitive landscape, Topps finally brought the idea to football with their 1989 Traded set.

Or, maybe it was Sanders himself who pushed The Old Gum Company toward the mild innovation, considering they missed on the Detroit rookie in their 1989 base set.

Whatever the case, Sanders’ 1989 Topps Traded card is the first to show him in an NFL game setting, even if the shot does feature him plopped down on a sideline bench.

Pricewise, it takes the ball at $30-35 in PSA 9 condition.

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BONUS!

Those 1989 cards represent the full gamut of actual Sanders rookie cards, but 1990 brought even more players to the gridiron pasteboard game. And, with those new entries came a rush of “first” Sanders cards for companies who weren’t on the field in 1989.

Here’s a rundown of those “bonus rookie” cards …

1990 Fleer Barry Sanders (#284)

As the company who brought down the Topps monopoly in baseball ten years before, and with a long history of serving collectors in one way or another, Fleer was the headliner when it came to new entrants to the football card market in 1990.

They delivered with a crisp, modern design and solid photography front and back that even managed to stir up a little nostalgia with player images overlapping card borders like many of the great cards of the past.

For awhile, Fleer *felt* like it hit the sweet spot from a production standpoint, too, with a touch of scarcity here and there keeping prices solid and retail shelves generally sparsely populated, but with wide enough distribution to prevent an all-out frenzy on the secondary market.

As with most sports cards from the era, of course, time has shown us that there is enough 1990 Fleer football out there to fill the oceans several times over, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still an important milepost in hobby history.

And Barry Sanders’ Fleer debut shows real NFL game action, something none of is 1989 RCs could claim.

Today, expect to pay about $10 for a slabbed MINT copy of that first Sanders Fleer card.

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1990 Fleer All-Pros Barry Sanders (#4)

Once they had their full license to issue cards of individual football players, after years of their Super Bowl sets showing nothing buy Blimp-eye-view action from the Big Game, Fleer jumped in with both cleats.

Part of that leap included an All-Pros set inserted into wax packs, similar to the Future Hall of Famers and All-Star cards they had rolled out in baseball in the preceding years. With Sanders reeling off 1470 yards rushing as a rookie in 1989, you can bet he was included in both the All-Pro squad and this set.

Today, this about a $15 card in PSA 9 condition.

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1990 Fleer Stars ‘n Stripes Barry Sanders (#44)

Another tribute to the All-Pro players of they day, Stars ‘n Stripes featured 90 cards issued in small boxes/packs that included two candy sticks and eight cards.

If you were lucky enough to pull a Sanders, or to find one later, then you have a $15 card — IF it’s graded a PSA 9.

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1990 Action Packed Barry Sanders (#78)

In many ways, Action Packed rode the wave of hobby hype that Upper Deck created in the baseball card market the year before, then amplified the signal and hardened it up for the gridiron.

Positioning itself as a super premium brand, AP offered just six cards per foil pack, but each was thick as the belly of a 1980s lineman and featured an embossed image of the player in question, all with a metallic sheen.

These striking cards hit most collectors as more of a novelty than must-have additions to the pile, though, especially with a hefty per-card price tag. And, like all the rest, there are generally plenty 1990 Action Packed debut pasteboards to go around today.

Expect price tags around $20 for Sanders slabbed in PSA 9.

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1990 Action Packed All-Madden Barry Sanders (#47)

Like Fleer, Action Packed wasn’t content to stick with just a base set in their inaugural year.

Instead, they teamed with Hall of Fame coach John Madden to produce a 58-card factory set of “All-Madden” team members … and, yeah Sanders was part of that group.

This card sells for about $20 in PSA 9 condition.

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Horizontal (landscape) instead of the traditional vertical (portrait) photo orientation.

Lots of very closeup player photos, many without helmets, and some with solid screens behind them — studio photos, basically.

And, probably most striking of all, those beautiful, shiny black borders that were more than just borders and more like the canvas on which the card masterpiece was created.

All in all, the design added up to one of the most iconic gridiron issues of all time, yielding plenty of popular individual cards despite a fairly weak rookie card class.

If you’re ready for a walk down this asphalt-paved memory lane, then, check out the 16 most valuable 1985 Topps football cards below, as culled from actual selling prices for copies in PSA 9 condition.

Hut! Hut!

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1985 Topps Mike Munchak Rookie Card (#253)

Guards don’t tend to get much limelight, and their football cards hardly ever make hobby hot lists.

But Mike Munchak was one of the best ever, garnering nine Pro Bowl and two All-Pro selections while providing protection for the 1980s Houston Oilers teams that featured the quarterback wizardry of Warren Moon.

It took awhile for Munchak’s rookie card to make any hay, but his election to Canton in 2001 helped land him on lists like this one.

Value: $30-50

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1985 Topps Jack Lambert (#357)

Much as Lawrence Taylor did for outside linebackers in the 1980s, Jack Lambert spent the 1970s helping to set expectations for what a great middle linebacker could mean to a championship team.

At the heart of the Steel Curtain defense that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls from 1974 through 1979, Lambert was already retired by the time this card made its way into collector hands.

As such, it’s a rare career-capper that gave us all one final look at an NFL legend.

Value: $40-45

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1985 Topps Steve Largent (#389)

Entering the 1985 season, Steve Largent already had seven 1000-yard receiving seasons under his belt, but that fall, he racked up an NFL-leading 1287 yards.

That performance not only established a new Seattle Seahawks record but also set Largent on a path toward the all-time NFL record for career receiving yards. Indeed, when Largent retired after the 1989 season he stood #1 in receiving yards (eclipsing Charlie Joiner in 1987), total receptions, and receiving touchdowns.

Though all those records have since tumbled at the hands of others (Jerry Rice, mostly), Largent’s cards still take their rightful place as hunks of hobby – and NFL – history.

Value: $45-50

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1985 Topps Walter Payton – Bears Team Leaders (#22)

This card is like a dream for Bears fans, bringing to life a scenario that has driven their (our) gridiron fantasies for decades – Walter Payton has the ball, and he sees daylight.

Ostensibly a “team leaders” card, this one is all about Sweetness – which actually hits Topps’ target square on the head considering there’s never really been a Bears team leader like Number 34.

Value: $40-65

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1985 Topps Lawrence Taylor (#124)

Who is the greatest linebacker of all time?

Like almost any GOAT discussion, there is no one correct answer to that question that all fans will agree on. But just about everyone who witnessed the man play will tell you that Lawrence Taylor was a game-changer and one of the greatest at *any* position to ever take to the gridiron.

L.T.’s 1982 Topps rookie card helped football cards claim their own territory in the crazy 1990s hobby explosion, but his other cards – like this nifty 1985 – have more than held their own over the years.

Value: $50-70

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1985 Topps Eric Dickerson (#79)

What Dan Marino did for quarterback cards, Eric Dickerson did for running back cards.

The second overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft, Dickerson burst out of the gates like few RBs ever, streaking to 1808 yards and 18 touchdowns in his rookie season for the Los Angeles Rams.

That had collectors clamoring for his 1984 Topps rookie card as soon as we could get our hands on them, and Dickerson poured gas on the fire – a record 2105 yards and NFL-leading 14 TDs in 1984 set up Dickerson’s cards to be hobby staples for decades to come.

That bust in Canton only sealed the deal, keeping those cards – and this card – among hobby favorites today.

Value: $95-105

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1985 Topps Passing Leaders – Dan Marino and Joe Montana (#192)

There was no real Montana-Marino rivalry to get fans tied up in frothy arguments, not like the Brady-Manning wars to come.

But any time you could get two all-time great quarterbacks together on the same card, you were sure to have a conversation piece on your hand … even if said card was “just” a commemoration of league leaders.

All these years later, the “why” doesn’t matter so much to collectors as the the fact that we get Dan and Joe together on one sweet swath of cardboard.

Value: $100-105

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1985 Topps Dan Marino (#314)

After falling to the Miami Dolphins at the 27th pick of the 1983 NFL Draft, Dan Marino managed to wrest the starting quarterback job from David Woodley (and Don Strock) by the end of the season.

In 1984, legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula installed Marinon in the pocket from the beginning of the campaign, and the young signal-caller shredded defenses to the tune of 5084 yards and 48 touchdowns. Both were new records, which came at the cost of just 17 interceptions.

Not surprisingly, Marino’s 1984 Topps rookie card rocketed to the top of hobby hot lists, and his 1985 follow-up was nearly as vaunted.

Today, today, though Marino’s records have mostly been surpassed and his cards don’t drive the market, they’re a beloved – and still pricey – piece of hobby history.

Value: $100-110

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1985 Topps Joe Montana (#157)

In 1984, Joe Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to their second Super Bowl title in four seasons, catapulting himself into the conversation about the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

The timing couldn’t have been better from a hobby perspective, either, as Montana’s 1981 Topps rookie card became the first real football-card star of the 1980s boom years. And, any Joe Cool card instantly became one of the biggest draws of any set it appeared in.

This 1985 Topps beauty was no exception, and it’s still a collector favorite after all these years.

Value: $100-130

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1985 Topps Mike Singletary (#34)

Like Walter Payton, Mike Singletary spent the first several years of his NFL career toiling for a Bears team that struggled to get both wins and attention.

Singletary himself started to get some notice in 1983, though, as the third-year pro nabbed his first Pro Bowl nod, then added first-team All-Pro honors in 1984.

By the time Chicago unleashed their 1985 juggernaut, Iron Mike was a star and the acknowledged leader of a defensive unit that ranks as one of the game’s all-time greats. This smiling Singletary card was the visage that greeted fans across the country as they go better acquainted with a key architect of the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Value: $125-175

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1985 Topps John Elway (#238)

John Elway was still pretty much a gunslinger through his first two NFL seasons, having tossed more interceptions than touchdowns in 1983 and 1984 combined.

But he had helped the Broncos into the playoffs both years, after a three-year drought.

That was enough to get his 1984 Topps rookie card bubbling a bit, and collectors were happy to pull this card the next fall.

Today, it’s a must-have early-career issue of an absolute NFL legend.

Value: $150-225

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1985 Topps Warren Moon Rookie Card (#251)

Coming out of the University of Washington in 1978, Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League rather than enter the NFL Draft. The consensus had been that he would have been a late-round pick, and the young signal-caller wanted a more sure thing.

Mission accomplished.

In six CFL seasons, Moon helped the Eskimos to five Grey Cup championships and set the all-time single-season record for passing yards in 1983 (5648).

That all led to a place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, but not before Moon decided to make the jump to the NFL, where teams were eager to bid for his services entering the 1984 season.

The Houston Oilers won that sweepstakes, and Moon embarked on the American leg of his journey at age 28, playing for four teams through age 44 and amassing nearly 50,000 yards passing to go along with his 291 touchdown tosses.

Moon’s 1985 Topps rookie card (NFL version) was a popular pull from the very beginning, and it only gained in popularity – and value – as Moon steamrolled toward Canton.

Value: $150-250

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1985 Topps Walter Payton Record Breaker (#6)

Walter Payton set so many records, graced us with so many highlights, over the course of his NFL career that he could have featured on multiple of these “special” cards every year.

As the 1985 season dawned, though, Payton had the big one under his belt.

On October 7, 1984, Payton raced past Jim Brown’s record of 12,312, one of the most revered marks in all of sports.

This 1985 Topps card commemorated that moment in stunning action and stands as a heavyweight in the set.

Value: $175-250

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1985 Topps Richard Dent Rookie Card (#24)

Mike Singletary may have won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award as the 1985 Bears established themselves as one of the great defenses of all-time, but it was Richard Dent who led the league in both sacks (17) and forced fumbles (7).

Heck, the young defensive end even picked off two balls, returning one for his first of two career touchdowns.

It took awhile for Dent to start getting his due in the football card market, but this black-bordered rookie card (he was a part-timer in 1982 and 1983, with no RCs to show) is a Hall of Famer in its own right today.

Value: $200-250

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1985 Topps Walter Payton (#33)

It was almost as if Topps anticipated the Chicago Bears’ magical romp through the 1985 season, capped by a title in Super Bowl XX over the New England Patriots in January of 1986

After all, those intimidating black borders were a perfect complement to the Bears’ black uniforms and dominant presence on the field and in popular culture (“Super Bowl Shuffle,” anyone?).

And, for all the hype around Jim McMahon and William “Refrigerator” Perry, for all the shutdown moments from the vaunted Bears defense, for all the tough-guy swagger from coach Mike Ditka, there was no doubt that Walter Payton was still the heart and soul of the Bears, just as he had been for a decade.

This card shows a closeup of an intense looking Sweetness in his Bears helmet, perhaps considering all that has been and all that may still lie ahead.

It’s a hobby classic.

Condition: https://www.psacard.com/auctionprices/football-cards/1985-topps/49769#g=9

Value: $650-700

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Honorable Mention

1985 Topps Mark Clayton Record Breaker (#1)

Teaming with quarterback Dan Marino, second-year receiver Mark Clayton set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season in 1984, converting on 18 scores.

Jerry Rice and Randy Moss have since passed that mark, and two others (Sterling Sharpe and Davante Adams) have also reached 18, but Clayton was the first.

And, while this card is notable for celebrating that feat, it’s also card #1 in a set notorious for condition sensitivity, thanks to those black borders. First cards always tended to take more beatings than others thanks to frequently being placed on top or bottom of card stacks.

So, consider this Clayton special to be both a cool card in its own right, and an exemplar for the difficulties in finding top-condition 1985 Topps football cards, in general.

Value: $60-75

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But when that opportunity knocked, Favre unleashed the wild and free passer who would become known as “The Gunslinger” on the NFL and changed the course of the game’s history…and his cards followed suit.

Indeed, nearly from the moment new Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf traded a first-round pick in February 1992 to the Atlanta Falcons for the QB who had been their second-round pick in 1991, Favre set about making a place for himself in Packers lore.

Taking the reins from an injured Don Majkowski early in the 1992 season, Favre unleashed a barrage of scrambling and ball-heaving that ignited the team and their fanbase and put Green Bay back on the road to reclaiming the crown of Title Town.

Over the next nearly two decades, mostly with the Pack, Favre hardly ever left the field as he led Green Bay to the playoffs nearly every season, including a Super Bowl victory after the 1996 season.

Along the way, Favre racked up three NFL Most Valuable Player awards and retired (?) in 2010 as the all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and interceptions, among other marks.

Also along the way, his cards became hobby favorites as collectors realized that, for all his warts, this free-wheeler was headed straight toward the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where he indeed claimed his bust in 2016.

And, although the list of Favre RCs that follows hails from the dark heart of the Junk Wax Era, they remain popular in the hobby more than thirty years after they first popped out of wax packs and Mylar sheathings.

Without further adieu, then, here is the full rundown of Brett Favre rookie cards, complete with typical selling prices for graded PSA 9 copies as late summer 2021, based on information from the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool.

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1991 Action Packed Rookie Update Brett Favre (#21)

Action Packed was a couple years into their run by the time Favre made his debut with the Falcons, and a lot of the novelty had warn off, especially since new “super premium” brands seemed to hit the market every other week.

Still, by waiting until “rookie update” season, AP was able to get the young QB in his pro uniform, and the combination has remained popular with collectors through the ages.

Today, this card generally land in the $15-20 range in PSA 9 condition.

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1991 Pacific Brett Favre (#551)

Pacific entered an increasingly crowded football card set with a bright and colorful set that definitely fell toward the premium end of the card spectrum … and that also turned out to be overproduced, just like all the others.

Even so, the Favre rookie card presents a solid look at the young gun and sells for about $15 in PSA 9 condition these days.

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1991 Pro Set Brett Favre (#762)

Pro Set was the king of being everywhere all the time, and the result is a glut of cards that the hobby may never work through.

You can see the effect in prices going all the way back to their first set and 1989, and the low population numbers for graded 1991s reflect more apathy among collectors than any sort of scarcity.

The Brett Favre rookie, though, depicts down-and-gritty game action, though, and sells for $15-20 in PSA 9.

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1991 Pro Set Platinum Brett Favre (#290)

Positioned as Pro Set’s premium offering, Platinum was issued in two series for a total of 315 cards in the full set. Like most high-end issues of the day, Platinum featured minimal design elements (just the set logo) to leave plenty of room for big, bold photos.

In Favre’s case, we see the young QB in the pocket with a Rams defender bearing down — could that be Karl Wilson, or maybe Gerald Robinson?

No matter what happened on that play (and you have to think Favre is about to pop a run), this RC sells for about $20 in slabbed MINT condition today.

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1991 Score Brett Favre (#611)

Issued before the 1991 NFL season even started, Score didn’t have the chance to nab a shot of Favre in his Falcons uniform. They also didn’t “treat” collectors to airbrushed photos the way Topps did, and the magic of Photoshop and other more modern photo-editing tools was still years away from the mainstream.

So, what was a card company to do? Why, issue the ’91 rookies — the draft picks, especially — in their college togs, of course!

And so we have this border-fade (how 90s!) Favre rookie card showing him with Southern Miss, where he really began building his gridiron legend.

Expect to pay $20-30 for a copy in PSA 9 condition.

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1991 Stadium Club Brett Favre (#94)

Riding the popularity of their first foray into the world of premium-plus baseball cards, Topps immediately expanded their Stadium Club offering to the gridiron in the fall of 1991.

Featuring a design that’s identical to its diamond counterparts, 1991 Stadium Club football was popular right out of the pack despite its hefty sticker price, and history has been a bit kinder to this issue than its contemporary cardboard brethren.

Consequently, the Gunslinger’s SC entry represents the top of the heap when it comes to Favre rookie cards, checking in at $50-60 in PSA 9 condition.

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1991 Ultra Brett Favre (#283)

Another premium set, Fleer Ultra was also another issue that turned out to be ultra plentiful. So much so that it’s not uncommon to find thousands of cards for sale at garage sales and flea markets for just a few bucks for the whole shebang.

Still, if you can locate a Favre rookie card, which shows him ready to fire a pass for Southern Miss, in graded MINT condition, you can expect about a $20 price tag.

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1991 Upper Deck Brett Favre (#13)

After three summers spent building their brand on the diamond, Upper Deck expanded to the NFL for the first time in 1991.

The upside was that UD brought the same quality product collectors had come to expect: simple and clean design, great photography front and back, Mylar packs and holograms to reduce the likelihood of tampering and counterfeits, a huge checklist with great player selection.

The downside was the same as with just about every other card on this list — overblown production.

No matter how many of these Favre RCs are running around out there in the wild, though, this card showing the BMOC on the Southern Miss sidelines remains the cream of the 1991 Upper Deck crop.

This Brett Favre rookie card sells for about $15-20 in PSA 9 condition.

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Consider …

These pasteboards were there as collectors rolled out of the 1980s boom and into the cardboard mayhem that would explode in the 1990s.

They were there before anyone knew who Tom Brady or even Payton Manning was.

They were there when Barry Sanders was just getting started looking like he might be the next Jim Brown.

They were there when the Cleveland Browns were still the Cleveland Browns, before they became the Baltimore Ravens, and before they were resurrected as…the Cleveland Browns.

And the first Emmitt Smith cards were also there when Walter Payton was just a few seasons removed from his record-setting run with the Chicago Bears. When he was still a young man, nearly a decade before his untimely death.

Almost from the beginning, Smith and his cards were collector and fan favorites, owing to his amazing rookie season that produced 937 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns for a Dallas Cowboys club that looked they just might be climbing out of their own abyss, maybe on the road to being America’s Team once again.

All these years later, after the Super Bowl rings and the rushing records and the Hall of Fame bust in Canton, Emmitt and his cardboard are still favorites

So, let’s let them favor us with their historical grandeur once again, as we run down the full list of Emmitt Smith rookie cards below, with values listed for PSA 9 copies as reflected by actual sales cataloged in the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool as of May 2022.

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1990 Action Packed Rookie Update Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#34)

The base design for 1990 Action Packed was almost understated compared to their All-Madden counterparts, but they felt super special at the time – thick, thick card stock coupled with gold borders, 3D embossed effects, and a super-premium price tag.

The 84-card “Rookie Update” set was issued in both set and pack form and featured rookies (#1-64) and veterans who had been traded or who were left out of the Action Packed base set.

As for Emmitt, he appears to be about ready to lower the boom on a defender … if his sidestep doesn’t pay dividends.

Value: $55-65

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1990 Action Packed All-Madden Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#9)

Part of a 58-card box set, this early Smith card lives up to its name – it’s packed with action and shows Smith as the hard-nosed, Madden-worthy player he would prove to be throughout his career.

Though technically not a rookie card since it wasn’t Emmitt’s first Action Packed card widely available through packs in retail outlets, this one is too close to the start of it all to leave out.

Value: $45-50

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1990 Fleer Update Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#U-40)

After missing out on Emmitt in their inaugural football base set, Fleer caught him in mid-handoff as part of their 120-card year-end Update set.

This Smith rookie is the prize of the box set, though Cortez Kennedy and Junior Seau RCs also bolster the issue.

Value: $30-35

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1990 Pro Set Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#685)

Pro Set looked the part of an NFL-sanctioned football card, with strong photography and the league logo prominent wherever you looked.

But, even by the time the Emmitt Smith rookie card showed up in Series 2, collectors pretty much knew that Pro Set was common as mosquito-bite whelps in July … and printing quality control left something to be desired, too – smudges, streaks, damaged cards were common sights coming out of packs.

Still, the Emmitt RC has nice eye appeal and won’t break the bank.

Value: $20-25

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1990 Pro Set Emmitt Smith Offensive Rookie of the Year (#800)

Pro Set didn’t stop at the 700 (or so) cards encompassed by their Series 1 and Series 2 issued earlier in 1990 – how could they when there were still printing presses to run into the ground?!?

So, the Official Card of the NFL went back to work at the end of the season, cranking out a Final Update that took the checklist to #800, where Emmitt Smith appeared again, as the 1990 NFL Pro Set Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Also on card #800, though a different card #800? Mark Carrier, the 1990 NFL Pro Set Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Value: $30-50

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1990 Score Supplemental Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#101T)

Of all 1990 Emmitt Smith rookie cards, this one is probably the one that comes closest to being “scarce,” though you have to consider that’s relative to the rest of the production numbers in the Junk Wax Era.

Still, this is Smith’s first Score card, it looks great, and it is available in fewer quantities than most of its counterparts.

Hard not to call that a winner.

Value: $120-140

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1990 Topps Traded Emmitt Smith Rookie Card (#27T)

Like most of its counterparts, Topps skipped Smith in its base 1990 football set, only to pick him up with Traded season came along.

The result is a kneeling, helmetless rookie card that might be slightly less plentiful than the competition proffered by Fleer and Pro Set.

Value: $35-45

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