Ranking Topps 1980's Baseball Card Sets: #3 - 1984

With the snow finally melting in the Northeast and the Grapefruit and Cactus League action heating up in the Southeast and Southwest US, I thought it would be a good time to dust off the Top 10 1980's Topps Baseball Card Sets Rankings. While plowing through slightly more than 69% of the list last Fall, I shamefully kept you in suspense all winter in the biggest cliffhanger since Dallas. Or Cliffhanger.

So please accept my apologies. With a moment of free time from three miles high on a Delta plane, I would like to get this baby back on the tracks. To recap, here are the rankings to date:

#10 - 1986
#9 - 1988
#8 - 1982
#7 - 1980
#6 - 1985
#5 - 1987
#4 - 1981

The 1984 season brings up some bad memories. Not only did our AL East rival Detroit Tigers run away with the division, their goofy closer Willie Hernandez won the Cy Young and MVP, robbing Don Mattingly, who put up a gaudy .343/23/110 with 44 doubles and 207 hits.

But the Mattingly rookie is not the only bright spot in this year's set. We also get the Dwight Gooden rookie. These two guys lit up New York and the baseball card community for much of the 80's. Almost as much as Gooden lit himself up with coke. The Mattingly card is also notable for referencing his position as 1B-OF and showing a picture of him in the field without his stache. At least the 1980's Yankees got one thing right by using Donnie Baseball at first instead of Steve Balboni.

We'll keep this one short, as my battery indicator suggests I am running out of juice and I am being distracted by picturesque view of Nebraska below. Good to know I paid $12.95 for wi-fi with a laptop that was half-charged. Strong. We hope to push out the remaining two sets in one uber-spectacular smorgasbord of nerdness later this March. Stay gold, readers.