That’s what happens when you …

• Break the all-time rookie home run record
• Come back from injury and slumps to reclaim your place as one of the top sluggers in the game
• Break the all-time single-season home run record

Big Mac was amazing, but like most heroes, he experienced a fall from grace — most notably the ding his reputation and records took as a result of the PED backlash of the last 15 years or so.

So where does that leave McGwire’s rookie cards?

Glad you asked!

Despite reports of their demise, McGwire cardboard has rebounded — not to their halcyon heights of his glory days, but to at least the level of a living legend with an outside shot at the Hall of Fame.

Here, then is a rundown of Big Mac’s Big Five rookie cards as they stand in the marketplace today.

1985 Topps Mark McGwire Rookie Card (#401)

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When 1985 Topps baseball cards first came out, collectors weren’t quite sure what to do with cards the numbered 389-404.

Thanks to the explosion of Red, White, and Blue, along with the “USA: 1984 United States Baseball Team” designation, we knew these cards represented members of the 1984 US Olympic squad.

A few of us might have remembered that the US lost the Gold-medal game to Japan, and we might also have recognized a some of the players from their time at the Los Angeles Olympics or from their college exploits.

But for most of us — at least kids like me — these cards were just a waste of space.

I mean, most of the players were completely unrecognizable, and they didn’t have any discernible Major League affiliation. Couldn’t Topps have put that cardboard real estate to better use, like including more Cincinnati Reds players or bringing back “Rookie Stars” cards?

Of course, even back then, there were folks in this business who knew how to create a buzz around young players and their first cards, so it didn’t take long for the word to get around at card shows …

Mike Dunne was going to be a great pitcher.

Oddibe McDowell was the next Willie Mays.

Cory Snyder was the next, longer-lasting Joe Charboneau.

So their cards, and a couple others (Shane Mack comes to mind) picked up some steam.

Nobody was too jazzed about generic cards of John Hoover, Flavio Alfaro, or Rod Dedeaux, though.

And, really, no one was too amped up about Mark McGwire, either.

But a scant two years later, Big Mac was becoming, well, Big Mac … stepping in at first base for the Oakland A’s and making a perfect Bash Brother partner for 1986 American League Rookie of the Year Jose Canseco.

By the 1987 All-Star break, McGwire had already slammed 31 home runs and looked like he would break not only the rookie record for dingers in a season, but maybe Roger Maris‘ all-time single-season mark of 61.

McGwire slowed down and managed “only” 49 homers on the full season, but the young slugger had arguably already cemented his place as a legend by the time he took home the 1987 AL ROY award that November.

Along the way, of course, Big Mac’s exploits helped supersize the demand and prices for his cards. During that magical summer, his 1987 Donruss card (see below) took on its own magical sheen, and his 1987 Topps rookie card (also see below) didn’t languish long on dealer tables, either.

But it was his exotic 1985 Topps card that really caught collectors’ fancies during that Summer of Slam.

Look how young McGwire is!

That card is old … it must be scarce!

How could we not see this greatness coming?!?

And so we grabbed on and chased the previously shunned 1985 Topps Mark McGwire pre-rookie card like a tail chasing its dog. And, as we did, prices climbed higher and higher until it was the most expensive 1980s card going, outside of the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly Rookie card.

Now, McGwire ebbed and flowed over the next decade or so, and his card prices did, too.

But by the time he found himself with the St. Louis Cardinals in the mid-1990s and was ready to really crank up the power, the hobby had changed. We had pretty much lived through the heart of the Junk Wax Era, for one thing, and 1985 Topps cards looked like hens’ teeth compared to the pasteboard swill we’d been swilling for several years.

About the same time, in 1998, PSA came on the scene and nearly instantly created the ultimate condition premium — a high PSA grading could rocket card values.

So, as McGwire ramped up his chase of Maris in 1998, collectors ramped up our hunt for his 1985 Topps USA card again, this time with an even stronger focus on condition than ever before. As Big Mac’s homer totals climbed, so did the price tag on his first Topps card — well into three figures.

Untold wads of cash changed hands buying and selling McGwire rookies from that point until his PED-induced fall from grace in the 2000s jabbed a pinhole in the market, and a lot of folks felt duped when prices tanked afterward.

But the funny thing about life and baseball and baseball cards is that hardly anything is permanent, except for maybe our memories of the good times. Grudges dull, breaking news and new indignities obscure the scars of the past, and we learn to move on.

Big Mac has moved on to some extent, working as a Major League coach of various sorts over the past few years, getting his face back in the game.

He may never make the Hall of Fame, but he’s not the pariah he once was either.

Same goes for his 1985 Topps rookie cards … as of this writing, they sell regularly on eBay for less than $10 in raw condition but can stretch all the way to $2500 or so for PSA 10 copies.

And, oh yeah — there’s also the glossy Tiffany version of this hobby classic that sells ion PSA 10 for between $10,000 and $20,000.

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1987 Donruss Mark McGwire Rated Rookie (#46)

There was a perception in the early months of 1987 that the new Fleer cards were super scarce and that the new Donruss cards were just plain old scarce. Turns out neither of those ideas were particularly true, but the gleam of scarcity shone on these cards for several years and graced them with pricing premiums all along the way.

Even so, a Fleer developed a big problem during that long-ago summer — they didn’t include Mark McGwire in their base set.

Donruss, on the other hand, was all over the big slugger, even slathering him with the coveted Rated Rookie rating.

So if you wanted a “high-quality” rookie card of the latest phenom, one that you could pull from then-current packs, Donruss was your only choice.

As a consequence, the McGwire RR climbed to $10 and beyond in the flash of a spike, and we (collectively) kept pushing until the card was out of reach for many younger collectors. Think of the children!

Like the 1985 Topps USA card (see above), that pricing frenzy couldn’t survive the Junk Wax Era and the PED scandals, but it’s not completely dead these days.

Think $1 or so for raw copies and $45+ for PSA 10s, depending on whether the wind is blowing in or out.

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1987 Fleer Update Mark McGwire (#U-76)

Fleer finally got their McGwire act together by including him in their 1987 Update set, but it felt — and still feels — pretty ridiculous to give them credit for a “rookie” card nearly three years after Topps broke the slugging seal with their 1985 USA cards (see above).

Even so, this is the first Fleer Big Mac card, and it enjoyed a couple of bombs in batting practice.

Today, you can usually find this one for a couple bucks raw and maybe $40-50 in PSA 10.

You can often find the glossy versions for about the same prices.

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1987 Sportflics Rookies Mark McGwire (#13)

Take everything I said about Fleer above and multiply it by three — for the patented triple-motion action — for Sportflics.

The still-new kid on the block could have included McGwire in their base 1987 set of corrugated cards, but they didn’t.

Instead, they jumped on the bandwagon with their follow-on “Rookies” set to produce what may be the most underwhelming card ever issued of a 500-home-run man.

This one will cost maybe $1 or so raw, on up to $20-25 in PSA 9 and $50 or more for a “perfect” 10.

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1987 Topps Mark McGwire (#366)

The 1987 Topps set was never scarce in any sort of way, but it became a hobby classic the instant that first collector cracked open a wax pack that winter.

Those wood borders are polarizing, sure, but they are also freaking iconic — and pretty darn good-looking if you ask me.

And that shot of McGwire is not perfect, but it’s unusual and shows the young masher poised and ready to … mash.

This was an extremely popular card from the time Big Mac started getting national coverage and, though it never attained the value of the USA or Donruss cards, it always sold well during McGwire’s upswings.

These days, you can still buy large lots of these beauties for around $1 a card, but you’ll have to cough up $80 or more for a PSA 10 specimen.

And if you want a Tiffany version in 10? Better dig a little deeper, as you’re likely looking at a $300 price tag.

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(Check out our other posts related to Mark McGwire here).

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It may sound ridiculous now, but the start of the 1987 baseball card collecting season was marked by a frenzy of scarcity.

Now, this doesn’t and never did apply to the 1987 Topps woodies that are so iconic these days. I remember going to a flea market in late December of 1986 and already being able to buy 5000-count boxes of ’87 Topps cards that dealers had chucked into their discard piles after extracting the stars.

But by Valentine’s Day of 1987, all of the new cards should have been on retail shelves across the America … they weren’t.

Again, Topps was everywhere, but depending on where you were, Fleer and Donruss were almost non-existent.

Word spread fast, too, and any boxes of Fleer or Donruss that did make their way to local shows sold for ever-escalating premiums. Packs that retailed at 35 cents quickly moved past 50 cents, then a dollar, and two, on their way to three bucks or more.

The interesting thing was that this scarcity seemed to be regional — in central Indiana, we had some pockets of Donruss wax but Fleer was like the Loch Ness monster: often discussed but seldom seen. The situation was reversed in other areas of the country.

These circumstances led to the first large-scale networking that I remember happening within the hobby. The ads in Sports Collectors Digest were sprinkled with collectors and dealers offering up their excess Donruss wax for an equal quantity of Fleer product, and vice versa.

This deal-making helped to level out the market a tad, but there were still plenty of collectors scrambling for Donruss or Fleer cards, or both, by the time the season began.

And even well into the summer, those cards carried a significant premium over their Topps counterparts.

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Power Surge

Of course, the summer of 1987 was also notable because it marked the return of serious, widespread power to the game for the first time in decades.

Towering home runs were flying out of ballparks at a record pace, and old-school fans cried foul: the balls were juiced, the mound was lower, the umpires were rigging at-bats, batters were too muscular.

Plenty of explanations were proffered for the power surge, but the upshot was that fans loved the renewed fireworks. We always do, right?

And card collectors, especially, embraced the new generation of sluggers, even if some of them were old favorites like Andre Dawson, by then toiling for the Chicago Cubs in friendly Wrigley Field.

But the one guy who really captured our imaginations was Mark McGwire of the Oakland A’s.

Just a year after teammate Jose Canseco had nearly toppled the rookie home run record — Jose finished with 37 to Wally Berger‘s 38 for the 1930 Boston Braves — McGwire entered the All-Star break with 33 dingers.

This young giant might not just eclipse Berger’s mark but also seemed to have a bead on Roger Maris‘ single-season home run record of 61.

The marriage of baseball card scarcity and monstrous young power was pure gold.

Now, we already had a McGwire card to chase in the form of his 1985 Topps Olympics card, but it had its detractors. For one thing, it wasn’t very attractive — it didn’t even show him in his A’s uniform.

For another, it was a Topps card, which at the time gave it the stigma as being of lower quality, from a production standpoint, than Fleer or Donruss products.

Despite those drawbacks, that 1985 McGwire took off and priced many younger collectors out of the Big Mac market.

But those hobbyists could turn their attentions to current-year product because both Topps and Donruss had included him in their base sets.

The Topps card sold well and rose in value, but it suffered from the perceived higher quality of the Donruss issue in general and from the fact that it was McGwire’s second Topps card. Fleer whiffed completely and would have to wait until their Update set after the season to join the Big Mac party.

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A Clear Winner

So collectors turned to the 1987 Donruss Mark McGwire Rated Rookies card in droves.

As McGwire kept slamming balls into the Oakland night, we soaked up any and all available Donruss wax like a Mojave sponge dropped into the Great Salt Lake.

The cost of ownership for that hunk of cardboard rose to $5 and then to $7, $10, and more. By the time McGwire ended the season with 49 homers and the American League Rookie of the Year award, it looked like the card would go up in value forever.

Subsequent years saw Big Mac bounce up and down in production and popularity until he put it all together with the St. Loius Cardinals in the late 1990s, including setting a new single-season mark with 70 home runs in 1998.

By then, we knew that none of the 1987 products were as limited as we had thought they were, but McGwire’s late march through the record books and past career homers gave his rookie cards new life.

Things aren’t always as they seem, of course, and much of the sparkle has been rubbed off Big Mac’s accomplishments by the taint of the Steroid Era.

Today, you can buy his 1987 Donruss rookie card for a couple bucks a pop in solid ungraded condition.

But for anyone who lived through the McGwire-and-Donruss boom the first time around, we know there is more to the card. The mere sight of Big Mac in his batting stance in front of hundreds of empty stadium seats, with the Rated Rookies logo and the swatches of baseballs embedded in black border, punctuated by the bright red alarm bar at the bottom of the card makes our breath catch.

Because we remember it all.

And, for all it meant and all it still means, we know this is the best card issued in 1987.

(Read all about this 30-day challenge — and jump in on the fun — right here.)

You might also enjoy our complete rundown of Mark McGwire rookie cards.

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From the moment prototypes of these wood-grained beauties hit the hobby press circuit late in 1986, collectors have gravitated to the pasteboards that were at once throwbacks to an earlier era (1962 Topps, in particular) and a testament to the new world of collecting — massive overproduction and near ubiquitous availability.

If you want to learn about all the options and subsets and packaging models that 1987 Topps, you can check out our ultimate guide to the set right here.

But there’s plenty to be learned about the infamous, love-’em-or-hate-’em woodies by stepping through the list of the most valuable members of the checklist, too, and you can get a heavy dose of nostalgia by reconsidering the players involved.

So that’s exactly what we’ll do below, focusing on cards in PSA 9 condition since that’s the most common grade that PSA has handed out for these classics.

Without further adieu, then, here are the 25 most valuable 1987 Topps baseball cards — in reverse order, and with a couple of bonus runs tagged on for good measure … 35 cards in all!

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25) 1987 Topps Wade Boggs (#150)

Wade Boggs was coming of his third American League batting title, and second of four in a row, when this card was issued. Yet it was his glove that Topps featured on this card (along with a happy smile).

That glove would turn Gold later in his career, with the Yankees, and Boggs would sail into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 2005.

Today, his 1987 Topps card sells in the $10-13 range in PSA 9 condition.

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24) 1987 Topps Tony Gwynn (#530)

Like Boggs, Tony Gwynn had already established himself as one of the game’s great pure hitters by 1987. And, though he had just one batting crown under his belt at that point, he would capture another that summer with an amazing .370 average.

Before all was said and done, Mr. Padre would add six more NL batting titles — eight total! — and amass 3141 hits en route to a forever home in Cooperstown.

Today, Gwynn’s 1987 Topps card checks in at about $10 in graded MINT condition.

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23) 1987 Topps Roger Clemens (#340)

In 1986, Roger Clemens broke out like few pitchers before or since: 24-4, 2.48 ERA, 238 strikeouts.

He even added the first 20-strikeout game for good measure!

By the next spring, his cards were among the hottest in the hobby, and they maintain a strong collector base today, even after all the backlash surrounding his association with PEDs.

Expect to pay $10-15 for a 1987 Topps Clemens in slabbed MINT condition.

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22) 1987 Topps Don Mattingly All-Star (#606)

Don Mattingly crashed the baseball scene with his unexpected run to a batting title in 1984 (taking down Yankees teammate Dave Winfield in the process), and his meteoric rise took his 1984 Donruss rookie card with him, changing the hobby forever.

Donnie Baseball followed that up with an MVP season in 1985 and an arguably even better performance in 1986.

He was the hottest name in the game, and the hottest cardboard in the hobby.

Today, this version of his 1987 Topps All-Star card will set you back $10-12 in PSA 9 condition … but there is another. You’ll have to read on to get the full story.

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21) 1987 Topps Dwight Gooden (#130)

After showing Clemens (and the rest of the world) that it really was possible to go 24-4 in 1985, Dwight Gooden slipped to “just” 17-9 with a 2.84 ERA in 1986 … at age 21.

The world was still his oyster.

And, even though the pearl of his career turned out to have more than a few blemishes, the weight of years has restored — or at least maintained — a bit of the luster his cards once used to blaze through the hobby.

Today, Doc’s 1987 Topps card is another $10-15 buy in PSA 9 condition.

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20) 1987 Topps Dale Murphy (#490)

In 1986, Dale Murphy turned 30 years old and had a sort of down year — for him — by falling below 30 home runs, 100 RBI, 10 stolen bases, and a .270 average for the first time since 1981.

The year after that strike-shortened season, of course, Murph won the first of two consecutive National League MVP awards and set himself on a path toward Cooperstown.

And, after that down year in 1986, the Braves legend bounced right back in 1987 with a .295/44 HR/105 RBI in the year of the slugger to set the world right again.

As things would turn out, that would be Murphy’s last really big year, and his Hall of Fame train kind of went off the tracks as he moved deeper into his 30s.

All these years later, though, Murphy still has plenty of supporters and may yet get “the call” depending on how the Eras Committees vote over the next several years.

In the hobby, Murphy’s popularity has never really waned, and, today, his ’87 Topps issue is about a $15 card in PSA 9 condition.

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19) 1987 Topps Ruben Sierra (#261)

Ruben Sierra, on the other hand, was definitely on the upswing as the 1987 season dawned.

Playing the 1986 campaign at just 20 years of age, Sierra clubbed 16 home runs and showed flashes of becoming an all-around talent.

He eventually fulfilled much of that promise, even if he never quite lived up to the “next name-your-hero” hype, and he played long enough to keep his rookie card percolating all along the way.

Today, expect price tags in the $10-15 range for graded MINT copies.

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18) 1987 Topps Barry Larkin (#648)

A couple years older than Sierra, Barry Larkin found himself in a pack of stout middle infield prospects for the Reds when he debuted in the second half of the 1986 season, but it didn’t take him long to claim the shortstop role as his own.

He wouldn’t let go for another 18 years, garnering a World Series ring (1990), an NL MVP trophy (1996), three Gold Gloves, nine Silver Sluggers, and 12 All-Star nods before all was said and done.

And then five years after all was said and done, Cincy’s hometown captain picked up his Cooperstown plaque.

Today, collectors are still picking up his Topps rookie card to the tune of $10-15 in PSA 9 condition.

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17) 1987 Topps Kirby Puckett (#450)

After a couple of so-so seasons in Minnesota, the Twins’ sparkplug erupted for 31 home runs, 96 RBI, and a .328 batting average. That performance propelled his 1985 rookie cards out of the commons bin and set up a decades-long love affair between collectors and Puck.

Today, Kirby Puckett‘s 1987 Topps card is another $10-15 buy in slabbed MINT condition.

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16) 1987 Topps Jim Rice (#480)

There was no more feared hitter in baseball than Jim Rice during his prime with the Red Sox during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

And, even though he declined fairly quickly and steadily in his 30s, Rice did enough to get into the Hall of Fame (whether you agree with that decision or not) and maintains a strong fanbase today.

Expect prices in the $10-20 range for Jim Ed in his grainy goodness when graded a “9.”

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15) 1987 Topps Rickey Henderson (#735)

It didn’t matter where you put Rickey Henderson — West Coast, East Coast, Canada — Mr. Hot Dog was always among the greatest players on the field.

Here, he sparkles in Yankee pinstripes under the eternal sunshine of a baseball game captured in cardboard summer.

This is a solid $15 card in PSA 9 condition.

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14) 1987 Topps Roger Clemens Record Breaker (#1)

This card commemorates the aforementioned 20-strikeout game, a feat Topps thought enough of to slot leadoff in what would become one of their most iconic sets of all time.

And, while you don’t usually find Record Breaker cards on lists like this, The Rocket and his amazing career (and single-game record) put this one on just about equal footing with his base card from the same set.

This Clemens pasteboard is a $12-15 buy today in graded MINT condition.

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13) 1987 Topps Mark McGwire (#366)

Heading into 1987, most collectors knew Mark McGwire as just another young guy who had appeared on one of those oddball Team USA cards in the 1985 Topps set.

He certainly wasn’t as well-known or well-regarded (among casual fans and collectors, at least), as teammate Jose Canseco.

But when Donruss made him a Rated Rookie, we started to take notice.

And when McGwire became Big Mac — a founding member of the Bash Brothers — on his way to a then-rookie record 49 home runs, we went bonkers. For the first time, the slugger who would eventually break Roger Maris’ single-season home run record during a breathtaking chase with Sammy Sosa in 1998 was a hobby darling.

And, yes, McGwire’s star crashed to the ground as the face of baseball’s PED scandal, but his cards hold a certain mystique even all these years later.

This woody RC is a pretty steady $15 seller in PSA 9 condition.

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12) 1987 Topps Don Mattingly (#500)

Mattingly’s base card in the 1987 Topps set is about as simple as it gets: a well-framed photo of one of baseball’s great hitters standing in the batter’s box, waiting on the pitch.

There’s nothing to distract your eye from the essence of the game other than maybe wondering who those New Yorkers in the stands behind him are.

Add in the iconic wood borders and Yankee pinstripes, and you have a classic that hits $15 in PSA 9 most of the time.

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11) 1987 Topps Gary Carter (#20)

In December of 1984, the New York Mets traded Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans to the Montreal Expos in exchange for All-Star catcher Gary Carter.

It made sense.

After all, Rookie of the Year showings by Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in 1983 and 1984 had helped turn the Mets into surprise contenders that latter summer, and they were ready to go all in.

With Carter behind the plate, the NYM improved to 98 wins in 1985 but had to settle for second place in the old National League East.

In 1986, though, the Mets ran away with the division, took out a tough Houston Astros team in the NLCS, and outlasted the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series for the ages.

Along the way, Carter solidified himself as one of the game’s great on-field leaders and a Hall of Fame catcher, starting more than 130 games each season and driving in 100+ runs in both, to boot.

Today, this action-packed shot of Carter in his Mets glory sells for $16 or more in PSA 9 condition.

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10) 1987 Topps Jose Canseco (#620)

This was one of the hot cards right out of the pack in the spring of 1987, thanks to Jose Canseco‘s Rookie of the Year campaign in 1986.

And, even though he had to claw a bit to get out of McGwire’s big shadow that summer, Jose was never far from the limelight.

Like so many other phenoms, Canseco ultimately fell short of the Ruthian projections we all had for him, but he has maintained enough hobby swagger for his first Topps base card to carry a $15-20 price tag in PSA 9 today.

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9) 1987 Topps Eric Davis (#412)

It didn’t take Reds fans long to realize that Eric Davis could do just about anything on a baseball diamond, from swatting big flies to chasing down big flies to outrunning big-armed outfielders on the basepaths.

It took us just a few eye blinks longer to realize that staying on the field would be his challenge, and one that would ultimately get the better of him.

Still, for all that promise and for all that realized glory and for the star-level career numbers he turned in, ED is still a popular figure in the hobby.

This, his third Topps card, sells for close to $20 in slabbed MINT condition most of the time.

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8) 1987 Topps Cal Ripken (#784)

By the time Cal’s sixth Topps base card (this one, that is) was issued, people were already talking about The Streak.

Truth is, though, Ripken was less than halfway to Lou Gehrig’s record 2130 consecutive games played even after the 1987 concluded.

Standing between Cal and the new mark were some really lean years for the Orioles, a second AL MVP award for Ripken, The Strike of 1994-95, and all the usual pitfalls that await baseball players every time they take the field.

Iron Cal persevered through it all, and when he claimed the record in 1995, all of baseball could feel the magic of the moment.

Today, Cal Ripken is still an all-time favorite even long after he hung up his spikes and collected his Cooperstown plaque.

This classic woody checks in at $17 or more in PSA 9.

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Intro paragraph

7) 1987 Topps Nolan Ryan (#757)

Even deep into his career, and even as the owner of baseball’s all-time strikeout record (pitcher division), Nolan Ryan was still something of a wild card to many fans and pundits in 1987.

Sure, he could bring the heat like few others, but what else?

Well, as it turned out, Nolan could bring the heat, like, forever, and he could also throw a no-hitter just about any time he took the mound.

When he finally retired after the 1993 season, Ryan had obliterated the K record book and locked down 7 no-nos.

He’d also locked down his status as the biggest name in the game and the hobby, a perch that has slipped only the slightest bit in the last three decades.

You can bet Ryan will appear on just about any “most valuable” list you can concoct, and he clocks in here at around $20 in graded MINT condition.

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6) 1987 Topps Pete Rose (#200)

Entering the 1987 season, Pete Rose had nothing left to prove as a player on the field, so he gave up that half of his player-manager duties for the Reds.

Even so, Topps granted him a rare career-capper, as well as a manager card in their grainy 1987 set — the perks of being the all-time hit king, I suppose.

Of course, even that “Hit King” title couldn’t keep Rose out of trouble once his betting scandal broke a couple years later, and Pete still remains on the outside of Cooperstown‘s hallowed halls today.

But he also remains a hobby favorite, and all his cards have jumped in value along with the rest of the market during the pandemic era.

The volatility of opinions surrounding Charlie Hustle is reflected in a wide range of prices for his 1987 Topps card — $12-20 in PSA 9.

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5) 1987 Topps Tom Seaver (#425)

Tom Seaver, meanwhile, has been about as steady a superstar as you’ll ever find, both in terms of his on-field domination and his popularity among fans and hobbyists almost since his debut with the New York Mets in 1967.

Following that Rookie-of-the-Year performance, it was all up for Tom Terrific, and he ranks among the top couple handsful of starting pitchers to ever tread the mound, no matter how you slice and dice the numbers.

Seaver’s cards got another boost in popularity when the Hall of Famer passed away in August of 2020, and today, his 1987 Topps issue sells in the $17-25 range when graded in PSA 9.

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4) 1987 Topps Will Clark (#420)

Will Clark debuted with the Giants in 1986, carrying all the expectations that came with being a #2 overall draft pick and a standout performer for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.

The Thrill didn’t disappoint, either, finishing fifth in ROY balloting at the head of a 15-year career that saw his sweet lefty swing crank out 2176 hits, 284 home runs, and a .303 batting average.

Clark’s gritty style of play and his staunch anti-steroid stance make him a fan favorite still and a constant feature in discussions around Hall of Fame snubs. Players with lesser resumes have already made the Cooperstown cut, so you never know what the Eras Committees will have in store for Clark in the coming years.

For now, his 1987 Topps rookie card is a hobby classic that sells for right around $20 in PSA 9 condition most of the time.

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3) 1987 Topps Mike Schmidt (#430)

By almost any measure, Mike Schmidt is the greatest third baseman to ever lace up the spikes.

(Though there are arguments to be made for contemporary George Brett — and his fans will make them fervently — the truth is that Brett played more than a third of his games somewher OTHER than third base.)

Befitting a three-time MVP and 500-home run man, Schmidt has been a popular hobby figure for decades, even if he never made a run at records or streaks that propelled him to the top of then-current hot lists.

For his steady greatness, though, Schmitty still packs a wallop among collectors, and his 1987 Topps card fetches $20 or so in PSA 9 condition today.

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2) 1987 Topps Barry Bonds (#329)

Barry Bonds probably doesn’t much care what you or I think of him, and neither do his numbers.

And those numbers, along with the show Bonds put on over the entire course of his career, tell us that the man was one of the greatest hitters to step into the batter’s box.

Would those arcade stats have looked so superhuman without whatever help Bonds sought out beyond the customary three squares? Undoubtedly not, but even with all the controversy, collectors still have still found a place in their budgets for Bonds cardboard.

Today, his Topps rookie card is a $20-25 buy in PSA 9 condition, and you have to figure it’ll go up — at least relative to the cards around it — if Cooperstown ever comes calling.

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1) 1987 Topps Bo Jackson (#170)

Bo Jackson was the most exciting athlete of his generation and one of the most popular men to ever trod the diamond.

With all the talent in the world, Bo seemed destined for greatness in both the NFL and MLB, and he realized a big chunk of all that potential before a hip injury felled him in a 1991 playoff game with the Raiders.

Though Bo eventually made it back to the White Sox, he was never quite the same and retired from baseball during the players’ strike of 1994-95.

Right from the very beginning, though, the mystique around Jackson as a two-sport star and the hype that naturally surrounds a Heisman Trophy winner grabbing a bat had collectors frothing for his cards.

Little has changed on that front today, some three decades after his final at-bat, and his 1987 Topps card tops our list, battling for supremacy with Bonds in the $20-25 range for specimens graded PSA 9.

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Honorable Mentions

There are so many popular cards in the 1987 Topps set, that you just never know when one will break out in a specific auction, or even in a more general way, to crack the ranks of our Top 25.

Some of them have already done that on occasion, sort of skewing their “sold” dollar amounts and making it tough to rank them overall — the above list shows the cards that sell for consistently high values, relatively speaking, and also with decent overall sales volume.

What follows are the breakthrough cards that have shown spikes here and there but that either change hands infrequently or exhibit wide fluctuations in pricing.

Here, then, are our “Most Valuable 1987 Topps Baseball Cards: Honorable Mentions”:

1987 Topps Don Mattingly All-Star (no trademark on front) (#606)

At long last, we come to the rest of the story as it pertains to the Mattlingly All-Star card (see original entry waaayyyyy above).

There’s not a lot of intrigue here, just a missing “TM” under the American League eagle’s wing in the upper lefthand corner of the card that makes this one a bit more scarce than the corrected version.

And, while the Dwight Gooden All-Star can be found in two versions, too, and while there are other minor variations in the issue, this Mattingly is the only one that’s accrued much extra value.

Expect prices around $25 if you find a copy in PSA 9 condition.

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1987 Topps Ozzie Smith (#749)

Ozzie Smith was always a magician at shortstop, but what’s often overlooked in his game is that he continued to mature as a hitter through much of his career.

It sort of all came together in 1987, when The Wizard hit .300 for the only time in his career and finished second in NL MVP balloting (to Andre Dawson) as the Cardinals copped yet another pennant.

While this card is nowhere near a rookie card and can often be found for 15 bucks or less, it’s also not all that unusual for it to pop into the $20 neighborhood in PSA 9.

Not surprising, really, as few cards evoke a 1980s hobby feel better than a wood-grained Ozzie.

explanatory paragraph

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1987 Topps Bobby Bonilla (#184)

Bobby Bonilla became the butt of all sorts of jokes thanks to his late-career nosedive and the Mets contract that pays him, like, forever.

But the truth is, Bonilla was a legitimate superstar with the Pirates, and there was real debate around who would turn out to be the better player — Bonilla or Bonds.

In the end, Bobby Bo’s resume could boast more than 2000 hits, nearly 300 home runs, and a spot in the hobby that just won’t ever completely wither away.

Today, his Topps RC can fetch as much as $15 in PSA 9 condition.

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1987 Topps Keith Hernandez (#350)

So, how does Keith Hernandez push a late-career card into a discussion like this one, without the benefit of a Hall of Fame plaque.

Well, he’s Keith Hernandez, for one thing.

And he was a key part of those great mid-1980s Mets teams, for another.

And he was also the co-MVP, with Willie Stargell, of the National League in 1979.

And he was also also one of the greatest first baseman, fielding-wise, of all time.

And … well, this card doesn’t change hands in PSA 9 all that often, but when it does, all those factors usually add up to double-digit dollar amounts.

Go figure.

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1987 Topps Jamie Moyer (#227)

If you were the 1986 Chicago Cubs, which line would have had you more excited about the future?

Pitcher A: 16 G, 87.1 IP, 7-4 record, 5.05 ERA, 45 SO, 42 BB

Pitcher B: 6 G, 31 IP, 2-4 record, 5.52 ERA, 20 SO, 11 BB

If it helps your decision-making at all, Pitcher A was a 23-year-old lefthander.

Pitcher B was a 20-year-old righthander.

So …

Yeah, tough call at that early stage, based solely on those numbers.

But, given the card above, you’ve probably surmised that Pitcher A was Jamie Moyer, and his honorable mention here has almost nothing to do with what he did for the Cubs.

Nope, the Ancient Mariner is here by virtue of his late-career resurgence and subsequent 11-year run with Seattle that kept him in the majors long enough to spur plenty of Re-Animator rumors.

Since Geritol is (probably) not on baseball’s banned substance list, though, Moyer’s 269 victories spread over 74 years in the bigs continues to spur the imagination — enough so for this card to run up double-figure sales totals in PSA 9.

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And Player B?

He headlines our list of

Most Valuable 1987 Topps Traded Baseball Cards

While our baseball cards came fully loaded with big-name rookies in 1987, our on-the-field choices were decidedly less exciting … especially if you were into anticipation.

I mean, sure, Big Mac lit up the northern hemisphere with his megawattage power, but we already had his rookie cards at our waxy fingertips, thanks to Topps and Donruss.

And after Paul Bunyan, the fireworks fell off pretty quickly, with Kevin Seitzer and Matt Nokes finishing second and third in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

In the NL, the top first-year men were Benito Santiago, Mike Dunne, and Joe Magrane.

All fine players with nice (or better) careers in front of them, but none of them really revved collector hearts and mind, and some of them already had rookie cards, to boot.

Heading into the end-of-season traded/update sets, the biggest draws were probably Seitzer, thanks to his high batting average (.323) and Nokes, thanks to his unexpected power surge (32 home runs).

And, sure, there were odds and ends here and there that piqued our interest, too — the first Fleer McGwire card, the first Topps Santiago card, the ever-coveted Tom Trebelhorn manager card.

By and large, though, the 1987 Topps Traded set just wasn’t all that exciting, leaving us to hope that someone would break out down the road and add some fire to the thing.

And, wouldn’t you know it?? Pitcher B (see above) burned the whole place down.

1987 Topps Traded Greg Maddux (#70T)

Looking at those early cards of Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux, you could probably be forgiven for thinking they showed the same dude.

Or mirror images of the same dude.

With the benefit of hindsight, though, and with the benefit of Maddux’s having shorn that adolescent eyebrow on his lip, we can now see the difference between the two, clear as day: Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, while Jamie Moyer is one of the most need-a-walker-to-get-to-the-mound pitchers of all-time.

Topps whiffed on Maddux in their 1987 base set but nabbed the youngster for their their Traded set, creating a card that would be worth $20-25 in PSA 9 condition nearly 35 years on (that’s now, in case you weren’t mathing).

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1987 Topps Traded Fred McGriff (#74T)

Donruss totally scooped their competitors by making Fred McGriff a Rated Rookie in 1986.

By the time Topps and Fleer caught up, nearly two full years had passed, and Crime Dog had knocked the first 20 of his 493 career home runs.

It’s a pretty good bet the Blue Jays/Padres/Braves standout would already be in the Hall of Fame had he nailed those extra seven dingers to take him to 500, but it’s also a decent bet that the Eras Committees come through for him one of these years.

As things stand now, that 1987 Topps Traded FTC (“First Topps Card”) of his falls in the $10-15 range when presented in PSA 9 condition.

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1987 Topps Traded Reggie Jackson (#52T)

In December of 1986, Reggie Jackson signed a free agent deal to return to his first team, the Oakland A’s, for what looked like it would be his Major League swan song.

While that did turn out to be the case, not even the “straw that stirs the drink” making a big move right before retirement could alter baseball card production schedules, so Reggie appears in the various 1987 base sets as a member of the California Angels.

They all came around by the end of the year, though, and Jackson landed quasi-career-capper cards (right team, incomplete stats) in Donruss Opening Day, Fleer Update, and Topps Traded.

And, even though Fleer gave Reggie a full-blown career-capper in 1988, this 1987 Topps Traded dandy is still popular with collectors today — it’s worth $10 or so in PSA 9 condition.

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1987 Topps Traded David Cone (#24T)

As a third-round pick out of high school in 1981, it took a bit for David Cone to start making a name for himself.

That relative anonymity changed in a hurry, though, when Cone broke out with a 20-3 record and 2.22 ERA in 1988, his second season with the New York Mets.

There were plenty of ups and downs over the next 15 years, but Cone won the 1994 AL Cy Young award back with his original team (Kansas City Royals) and posted another 20-win campaign in 1998, with the world champion New York Yankees.

His slow-burn career, punctuated with flashes of excellence and bouts of injury/ineffectiveness left Cone as a borderline HOF candidate and middling hobby draw.

Still, his first Topps card is a $10 buy in slabbed MINT shape.

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1987 Topps Traded Matt Williams (#129T)

The 1994 strike robbed us all of plenty of good baseball and may ultimately have led to the Montreal Expos move to Washington, D.C. (or maybe hastened it).

But one guy whose excellence in that long ago summer is often overlooked is then-Giants third baseman Matt Williams.

With 43 home runs through 115 team games, Williams was on pace to take aim at Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61 when the season went bye-bye.

And if Williams had topped that mark in 1994, how do you think baseball history would have been altered?

With no need to “bring fans back,” would the home run chase of 1998 have even happened? Would the steroid era have been a thing?

More to the point for us here, now, would Williams have used his new record as a springboard to a Hall of Fame career?

As things stand, Williams ended up with 378 home runs and close to 50 WAR — better than some Cooperstown enshrinees, but likely perpetually short of the mark.

Even so, Williams’ FTC is a $10 buy in PSA 9 condition these days.

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Want to see a video version of this article?

As the 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies drew near, fans everywhere were doing what fans do best — talking about the big event, second-guessing the HOF voters, and thinking about what might come next.

And when it comes to overall knowledge and strong opinions, few groups are as ardent as baseball card collectors.

After all, we’ve spent hundreds of hours over years and years pouring through our cards, memorizing every wrinkle and errant print dot on card fronts, and devouring the statistics on card backs.

So who better to chime in all things Cooperstown-related than a bunch of fellow collectors?

No one, I say.

Over the course of a couple of weeks leading up to Hall of Fame weekend (July 28-30), I posed a series of questions on Twitter, and — as you might expect — hobbyists told me exactly what they think.

Here, then, are the results of nine Hall of Fame polls, as told by our collective baseball card consciousness.

The Snubs, Hitter Division

Which of these eligible superstars who retired before 1994 and currently NOT in the #HallOfFame is most deserving of a Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 15, 2017

This one sparked some good debate as the underrated Bobby Grich continued to be underrated here and his supporters reminded us of his statistical record (7th best second baseman of all time according to Baseball Reference.

This question also generated several write-in candidates, which led to …

The Snubs, Hitter Division – Round 2

First #HallOfFame poll was fun & yielded more intriguing names. So which of THESE players is most deserving of a Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 16, 2017

This question really illustrated the classic conundrum of “famous good” players v. “SABR good” players.

Most of us who were fans during the 1980s remember Dale Murphy and Dave Parker as superstars, but the new breed of statistics like OPS+ and WAR favor Ted Simmons and Dick Allen.

For this poll, at least, old-school stars won out, but there was plenty of discussion.

We still had some leftover hitters, so it was on to …

The Snubs, Hitter Division – Round 3

One more round of pre-1994 retirees to pick up other hitters mentioned in previous runs. Which of these most deserves a #HallOfFame plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 17, 2017

Steve Garvey won this ballot in a landslide over Al Oliver, which only served to fuel the fire of the stats v. fame discussions.

Garvey and Oliver trounced Graig Nettles and Reggie Smith here, even though the latter two are way out front in terms of career WAR:

• Graig Nettles – 68.0 WAR
• Reggie Smith – 64.5 WAR
• Al Oliver – 43.3 WAR
• Steve Garvey – 37.7 WAR

This wrapped up our trip through the hitters on the outside looking in, at least momentarily, but there was still the matter of …

The Snubs, Starting Pitcher Division

We went deep w/hitters; you knew we had to do THIS. Which pitcher is most deserving of a #HallOfFame plaque? (One is not like the others.)

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 18, 2017

It’s probably not too surprising that the ever-popular Jack Morris ran away with this one, or that Sabermetrics fans in the group were fairly disillusioned with the results.

Regardless of who your pitcher is, though, he can’t pitch a complete game every time.

That’s why we had to move on to …

The Snubs, Relief Pitcher Division

By request, which of these Modern Era reliever is most deserving of #HallOfFame induction? Any?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 20, 2017

Folks weren’t necessarily enthusiastic about this group but still chose Lee Smith by a wide margin over the late Dan Quisenberry. Still, the overarching sentiment of a large swath of the group was that these relievers were underwhelming on the whole.

Having covered most of the (maybe) overlooked candidates who played during the 1970s and 1980s, we moved on to …

The Supersnubs

It's one thing to not get elected to the #HallOfFame, but another to only get 1 try. Which of these 1-and-dones was most surprising?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 23, 2017

These guys were all superstars at some point during their careers, yet they all fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after just try. Lou Whitaker won this one in a romp, but Kenny Lofton received fairly vocal support among more recent snubs.

Of course, not all HOF debate centers around the guys who were left out.

Indeed, even the players already enshrined are not safe from fan scrutiny, so we joined that fray with …

The Overrated

Slightly darker #HallOfFame poll … which of these HOF players who appeared in the 1970s least deserves his Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 25, 2017

Bill Mazeroski “won” this title with ease, but Jim Rice had plenty of “support,” too. He also had plenty of real support from collectors who couldn’t believe we’d even include him in this list.

Continuing with the theme of enshrined players who may or may not actually belong in Cooperstown, we turned to ..

The Firemen

(Or … Do We HAVE to Have a Reliever?)

You're building a team full of #HallOfFame players & have room for only 1 reliever, who can be used ONLY as a reliever. Who do you pick?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 26, 2017

As with the snubbed reliever poll above, enthusiasm for this group of HOF hurlers was lukewarm at best.

In the end, Rich Gossage narrowly edged out Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter.

We wrapped up our consideration of Hall of Fame specialists with …

The Old Sluggers

Your #HallOfFame team is in a DH league. Which of these HOF players who saw significant DH time in the 80s and/or 90s is your guy?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 27, 2017

Collectors dig the long ball … but we picked the least-accomplished home run smasher among this group as our HOF designated hitter.

In the end, Paul Molitor edged out Reggie Jackson as the DH on our hypothetical Hall of Fame club thanks to his overall hitting excellence and maybe also because he played much more recently.

Also taking the field not all that long ago were …

The Forgotten Sluggers

There were 4 hitters on 2017 Today's Game Era #HallOfFame ballot. Which, if any. is most deserving of Cooperstown enshrinement? (0 got in).

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 28, 2017

Mark McGwire won this poll by a Big-Mac-Sized margin, but there were also fewer votes here than in any of our other surveys. Voter fatigue or a no-vote for all those listed?

Could go either way, but McGwire is clearly not a complete pariah among collectors at this point.

Lessons Learned

So what did we learn from all these Hall of Fame polls?

Well, for one thing, we learned that collectors hold onto their childhood affinities well into adulthood and have plenty to say when it comes to their diamond heroes.

We also learned that, as a group, we’re not blind to the statistical advances of the past couple of decades.

As mentioned above, there was plenty of discussion on both sides of the fame v. stats debate, and most had there merits. Here’s one of my favorite comments, from a collector firmly in the Sabermetrics camp:

HOF poll voters on @WaxPackGods think Willie Hernandez deserved the MVP in 1984. 😉 pic.twitter.com/pQtma79qMX

— IDrawBaseballCards (@mosley_mark) July 27, 2017

It sums up in one quick shot the light-hearted tensions of long-time fans and collectors struggling to reconcile what we saw on the field 35 years ago with what we see in the record book todya.

What we really learned, or reinforced, was that baseball and baseball cards are fun.

More fun than ever, if you let them be.

We may lament the passing of the local card shop or real (hard) gum in wax packs, but we’ve never had such a huge and vibrant community of fellow collectors at our fingertips, 24-hours a day, as we do now.

Enjoy the ride like it’s 1984, guys!

What’s Next?

Where do we go from here?

More baseball cards, and more talk about baseball cards, naturally!

And, probably, more polls and good-natured group self reflection.

Thanks to all those who have participated so far — it’s been a lot of fun!

And let me know if you have ideas for other topics we ought to tackle.

I can almost guarantee we’ll have strong opinions and a good time hashing through them.