30 Most Valuable 1987 Topps Baseball Cards
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How could anyone forget about the 1987 Topps baseball cards with their iconic woodgrain borders?
And the set was packed with rookies and stars, too...
Everyone knows they were heavily printed just like every other set during the card craze of the late 1980's.
And, yes, while most of them are basically worthless these days as a result, there are a few that can still be worth decent money.
In this guide we take a look at the 10 most valuable 1987 Topps baseball cards.
Let's jump right in...
Ross Uitts - Owner
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Brief disclaimer: Before we get started, I do want to make it clear that most 1987 Topps baseball cards do not have any value these days.
Like the 1987 Donruss, Topps Traded and Fleer sets, far too many of them were printed and the market is over-saturated with them.
In order for the cards on this list to be worth much, they'll either have to be the Tiffany version (Topps' premium factory set) and/or be graded by PSA to be in perfect, gem mint condition.
That means the card needs to be basically flawless.
Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the top ten:
1987 Topps #320 Barry Bonds Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $200
After an uneven rookie season, Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Barry Bonds had a lot of growing up to do.
His tantalizing speed/power combination promised a brighter future, but there were gaping holes in his game to consider, too.
Bonds struck out over 100 times in just 413 at-bats in '86, and his substandard work in center field cost the Buccos more often than not.
Bonds even took to shrugging off commands from the coaching staff to play deeper in center, perhaps hoping to hide his below-average throwing strength.
Pirates manager Jim Leyland wasn't about to let that slide.
New trade acquisition Andy Van Slyke took over the regular center job upon his arrival, pushing Bonds to left.
Van Slyke's defensive prowess pushed Bonds and forced him to confront his deficiencies.
As he did so, he improved across the board.
Bonds slashed .261/.329/.492 with 25 home runs, 34 doubles, nine triples, 99 runs scored, and 59 RBIs in 611 plate appearances (551 at-bats).
He also swiped over 30 bags for the second straight year (32).
With their future MVP finding his way, the Pirates made a big-time jump toward relevance, improving from 64 wins to 80.
Barry Bonds' career may forever be under a cloud of controversy due to the PED scandal of the late 1990's and early 2000's.
Regardless, his rookie card is a key to this set and the most valuable on the checklist.
1987 Topps #170 Bo Jackson Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $140
It's easy to look back at Bo Jackson's two-sport legacy with rose-tinted glasses.
However, some tend to forget how many people Jackson ticked off when he signed with the Los Angeles Raiders in July 1987.
Selected in the fourth round of the 1986 draft, Jackson was already a generational athlete.
The Auburn Tigers running back sprinted away with the Heisman Trophy in 1985, the same year he posted a jaw-dropping 1.364 OPS on the diamond.
He was also very raw.
Some questioned his work ethic and dedication when the Royals promoted him in 1986.
To Jackson's credit, he worked tirelessly to improve his game before the 1987 regular season.
Initial results were promising.
And then, the Raiders selected him in the seventh round of the NFL Draft.
Would he or wouldn't he?
Speculation ran rampant until Jackson finally inked a deal with Los Angeles during the MLB All-Star break.
Bo's decision made him a target in the clubhouse and the stands.
Jackson took the criticism on the chin for the rest of the year, and his play suffered.
He repeatedly struck out, losing playing time as his swing short-circuited.
The power was there, and the athleticism was undeniable, but the results were middling at best.
He only played 35 games in the second half.
Voted as the runner-up in the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year race, Jackson exploded onto the pro football scene.
As he did, the Royals were left wondering where they fit into it.
1987 Topps #500 Don Mattingly
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $110
A controversial back injury suffered in June of ‘87 wasn’t enough to stop Donnie Baseball’s assault on the Major League Baseball record books.
The five-year vet missed 21 games in the middle of the season due to two protruding disks.
That included five days in traction in a New York hospital.
Mattingly claimed that he’d injured his back fielding groundballs during batting practice.
The scuttlebutt, however, was that the first baseman had hurt himself in a friendly wrestling bout with pitcher Bob Shirley in the clubhouse.
Mattingly denied it, yet none of it seemed to matter when push came to shove.
After an awful slump to start the year, the 26-year-old exploded back onto the scene after his return from injury.
Mattingly hit .370 in his first two weeks back, scoring 12 runs in 13 games.
It was a brilliant stretch.
It was also just an appetizer for the main course.
On July 8th, Mattingly crushed a three-run homer off Minnesota Twins starter Mike Smithson.
It appeared to be an ordinary midseason blast at the time, yet it was far from it.
The Yankees legend hit homers in his next seven games, setting a new AL record and tying the MLB record with bombs in eight consecutive contests.
“I know I talk about not caring about it,” Mattingly said after homer #8, “but it does feel better after I hit one.”
1987 Topps #620 Jose Canseco
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $100
1987 was the beginning of the "Bash Brothers."
It was also the last brick of a championship foundation.
With the arrival of rookie slugger Mark McGwire onto the Oakland scene, reigning AL Rookie of the Year Jose Canseco was nudged ever so slightly out of the limelight.
McGwire's historic rookie campaign made him a media darling.
Canseco, on the other hand, just kept slugging away.
The electric one-two punch combined for 80 home runs, elevating the A's to the franchise's first non-losing season since the strike-shortened 1981 campaign.
Canseco hit to a .257/.310/.470 slash line with 31 home runs, 35 doubles, three triples, 15 stolen bases, 81 runs scored, and 113 RBIs.
As with his ROTY campaign, strikeouts were a problem: 157 Ks in 630 at-bats.
However, the Cuban native's light tower power more than made up for the constant whiffs.
One year later, Canseco would go from second banana to AL MVP.
As he skyrocketed up, so did the Athletics.
If you were around the hobby in the late 80s and early 90s, you know how popular this card was.
One of the game's hottest stars, flanked by the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, presented collectors with an incredibly desirable card.
1987 Topps #606 Don Mattingly All-Star (No TM
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $90
Overall, Mattingly slashed .327/.378/.559 for the fourth-place Yankees in 1987 with 30 homers, 38 doubles, two triples, 93 runs scored, and 115 RBIs in 630 plate appearances (589 at-bats).
For the third consecutive year, the four-time All-Star won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger and finished seventh in the AL MVP race.
And his eight-game home run streak wasn't his only incredible feat that season.
With a grand slam off Boston starter Bruce Hurst in late September, Donnie Baseball set a new MLB record with six grand slams in a single season.
Think about that: 24 of his 115 RBIs came from just six swings.
That's pretty amazing.
Mattingly's All-Star card will appear in two variations in this set: one with the "TM" symbol beneath the eagle's wing in the upper-left corner and one without.
Since the error was corrected, the variation without the "TM" can fetch a slight premium over the other.
1987 Topps #757 Nolan Ryan
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $90
For most MLB pitchers, age 40 means retirement, relaxation, and plenty of golf.
Nolan Ryan was never like most MLB pitchers.
An absolute outlier of endurance and pure pitching power, Ryan was as good in his early forties as ever.
In 1987, Ryan opened up his fifth decade of life with one of his Hall-of-Fame career's most impressive season-long performances.
The Texas native won his second NL ERA title with a 2.76 mark.
It was his best since 1981 and his second best since 1972 during his first stint with the California Angels.
The Texas native finished just 8-16 due to poor run support and plain bad luck.
That was no reflection of his individual brilliance.
Ryan topped all of baseball in strikeouts (270), hits-per-nine (6.5), strikeouts-per-nine (11.5), FIP (2.47), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.10). He also paced the Senior Circuit in ERA+ (142).
The Rangers' offense let him down time after time, perhaps costing him an All-Star spot.
Yet, his dominance was undeniable at season's end, earning him a top-five finish in the NL's Cy Young balloting.
I've always loved the look and feel of this card.
You can almost feel the tension building as Ryan gets ready to unleash what looks like his circle change-up based on his grip.
1987 Topps Traded #70T Greg Maddux Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $85
One of the greatest pitchers of all time, Greg Maddux, may not have had overpowering stuff, but his ability to place the ball anywhere he wanted made him a perennial Cy Young Award candidate.
But in 1987, he was far from Hall-of-Fame form.
After four brilliant outings for the Chicago Cubs' Triple-A affiliate, the former second-round pick returned to the Bigs to stay.
However, his outings for the Cubs went just about as well as their entire 76-win season.
Surrendering 181 hits and 74 walks in 155.2 innings pitched, Maddux's 1.638 WHIP was by far the worst of his remarkable career.
Later in his career, Maddux would devastate opposing hitters with pinpoint accuracy and speed changes.
He didn't have it in 1987, but the experience on the mound proved critical to his growth.
Maddux spent several quality years with the Cubs from 1986 to 1992 and even won his first of four consecutive Cy Young Awards before the Atlanta Braves signed him.
And that's where his career really took off.
Technically, this card is part of the Topps Traded set, not the Topps flagship set.
But since it's one of the most sought-after cards of the 1980s and Maddux is one of my favorite pitchers of all time, I figured I'd include him.
1987 Topps #366 Mark McGwire
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $75
There are Rookie-of-the-Year seasons.
And then there's the absolute fireworks show that Oakland A's first baseman Mark McGwire unleashed on the American League in 1987.
Drafted 10th overall in the 1984 MLB Draft, McGwire quickly outgrew the Minors.
After torching Double-A and Triple-A with a .969 OPS in 133 games, the 6-foot-5 behemoth earned a place on Oakland's big-league roster late in the '86 campaign.
McGwire went thermonuclear in 1987 with a rookie campaign that had no parallels in MLB history.
The first rookie to lead the Majors in home runs since Al Rosen back in 1950, McGwire's 49 home runs also shattered the previous rookie record of 38.
He could have hit fifty but decided to sit out the year's final game to support his wife as she gave birth to a new baby boy.
"I saw my son Matthew born, and I consider that my 50th home run," McGwire said.
The numbers from McGwire's rookie year remain mind-blowing.
The 23-year-old hit .289 and slugged a big-league best .618.
Over half of his 161 hits were extra-base hits.
An easy choice for an All-Star nod, McGwire finished sixth in the league's MVP balloting.
And when it came to the Rookie-of-the-Year voting, no one else compared.
The Oakland A's phenom became just the second AL player (Carlton Fisk) to win the league's ROTY award unanimously.
1987 Topps Traded #74T Fred McGriff Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $60
After six years toiling away in the Minor Leagues, Fred McGriff got his big break in 1987.
To be more accurate, McGriff received two big breaks in '87.
The first was a spot on the Toronto Blue Jays' roster.
Acquired by the Jays in a deal with the Yankees in 1982, McGriff worked tirelessly on his game from age 18 to 23.
A half-decade of seasoning did him good, vaulting him to The Show in '87.
Slotted into a platoon role as a DH/first baseman, the "Crime Dog" put up elite power numbers in a part-time capacity.
McGriff crushed 20 homers in just 295 at-bats for the second-place Jays.
He also walked 60 times, lifting his on-base percentage to an impressive .376.
It was a breakout rookie year for the 6-foot-3 slugger.
It was also the year that he became a video star.
During the '87 campaign, McGriff's friend and swing doctor Tom Emanski asked him to do a quick endorsement for his new Defensive Drills video, recording the Jays rookie at a local Little League field.
"He just gives me this shirt and this hat and says put them on," McGriff said later. "He had his own little video camera, so he shoots the video. At the time, I was just like, OK, give me one percent. I didn't know it was going to turn into anything."
That one percent added to a sizeable chunk of change.
Tom Emanski's Defensive Drills was one of the best-selling baseball videos of the 1990s.
1987 Topps #400 George Brett
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $55
You have to hand it to George Brett.
No matter how much crap the 1987 season threw at him, he still put in All-Star-level work.
Early in the campaign, Brett suffered a rib injury that cost him over three weeks.
It was his sixth stint on the disabled list in 15 years with the Kansas City Royals.
That was bad enough.
And then came his seventh stint.
Three days after returning to the club, Brett partially tore the MCL in his right knee while attempting to gun down a runner at home.
The injury occurred on his 34th birthday to rub more salt into the wound.
On the bright side, the Royals corner infielder forewent surgery and returned as the same George Brett he was before.
Brett slashed .290/.388/.496 with 22 homers, 18 doubles, two triples, 71 runs scored, and 78 RBIs in 115 games.
It was another elite year for one of the game's best.
Yet, you can't help but think what things would have been like if he'd been healthy for 162 games.
After all, the Royals missed out on the playoffs by just two games.
The 85-win Minnesota Twins won out in a mediocre AL West race and parlayed that into an improbable World Series title.
It could have been them if Kansas City had Brett for 150-155 games.
1987 Topps #450 Kirby Puckett
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $55
Kirby Pucket was the heartbeat of the 19'87 Twins' magical run.
Minnesota was, by no means, an elite regular season team.
Regardless, the AL West was there for the taking.
Beaten down by the AL East all year, it only took 85 wins to bring home the division.
Minnesota was the team to do so, largely thanks to Puckett's MVP-level performance.
The 27-year-old topped the league in hits (207) for the first of three consecutive seasons, alternating majestic bombs with dinks and dunks all over the field.
He was a complete performer: a middle-of-the-order menace who was also baseball's best defensive center fielder.
Overall, Puckett slashed .332/.367/.537 with 28 homers, 32 doubles, five triples, 12 stolen bases, 96 runs scored, and 99 RBIs in 157 games.
He finished third in the league's MVP vote and captured a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and All-Star nomination for the second straight campaign.
Luckily, Puckett was at his best in the World Series.
With Minnesota facing down elimination in Game 6, the upbeat outfielder reached base five times and scored four runs in an 11-5 statement win.
He notched two hits in the deciding Game 7, and the Twins completed the story with an emotional 4-2 home victory.
Puckett reached the pinnacle of the sport at that very moment.
Minnesota was now home to a World Series championship, and Kirby was the town's new favorite son.
1987 Topps #530 Tony Gwynn
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $55
The San Diego Padres' fall from NL championship grace was steady.
After the 92-win Friars reached the World Series in 1984, San Diego's loss total dropped by nine in each of the next three years, from 83 to 74 to a bargain-basement 65.
That was the 1987 season.
The '87 Padres were a light-hitting team with subpar pitching.
That's a no-win combination and made for a very trying year in Southern California.
Padres fans did have one thing, or rather one player, to hang their caps on.
After finishing third in the 1986 NL batting race, Tony Gwynn won his second batting crown in '87 with a new career-best .370 average.
He didn't just hit singles, either.
Of Gwynn's MLB-best 218 hits, 36 were doubles, 13 were triples, and 14 were homers, marking his first season with double-digit bombs and his only until 1994.
Gwynn was also a stellar defender in right, grabbing his second Gold Glove in as many years.
Add that to his third Silver Slugger award, his fourth All-Star appearance, and a top-10 NL MVP finish, and you get a monster season in the middle of a San Diego swoon.
1987 Topps #648 Barry Larkin Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $55
When Barry Larkin earned the call-up to his hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1986, he came in with a purpose.
And that purpose was to be the team's starting shortstop.
One barrier stood between the fourth overall pick of the 1985 MLB Draft and his destiny: Kurt Stillwell.
Picked second overall by the Reds in 1983, Stillwell battled Larkin at the end of the '86 campaign for the job going forward.
Larkin pulled ahead ever so slightly as the year came to a close.
With the coaxing of teammates Eric Davis and Dave Parker, he took matters into his own hands.
"I like Kurt Stillwell, but if you don't make me your shortstop, you're making a big mistake," Larkin told player/manager Pete Rose. "I'm the shortstop here for the next 15 years."
Rose eventually bought in, and Larkin won the starting job outright in 1987.
Although his offensive numbers could have been better, the 23-year-old had the poise, the glove, and the will to keep his spot.
Larkin ended the year slashing .244/.306/.371 for the second-place Reds with 12 homers, 16 doubles, two triples, 21 stolen bases, 64 runs scored, and 43 RBIs in 125 games.
1987 Topps #784 Cal Ripken Jr.
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $55
The 1987 season was a Ripken family affair for the Baltimore Orioles, for better and worse.
(Mostly worse.)
Newly minted rookie Billy Ripken joined the team midway through the season, slotting in at second base alongside his brother, Cal.
And, after Earl Weaver returned to retirement with a last-place finish in '86, Cal Ripken Sr. stepped in to lead the team.
The obvious synergy between the two brothers and their dad seemed like an instant recipe for success.
Instead, the Orioles regressed, dropping from 73 wins to 67.
Baltimore's pitching staff was blown to shreds by underperformance and injuries.
And the offense stagnated from top to bottom, including Ripken Jr., who posted new career worsts in batting average (.252), OPS (.769), hits (157), and OPS+ (105), among other categories.
Cal still hit for power, slugging 27 home runs and driving in 98 runs.
However, everything else was a struggle for the five-time All-Star, including the controversial end to his remarkable consecutive innings streak.
After inning #8264 hit the books, Ripken Sr. removed his son late in a blowout loss to Toronto.
The future Hall-of-Famer was in a mini-slump, and his dad wanted to "take the monkey off his back." "I'm a player. I do what my manager tells me to do," Junior said later. "It just so happens that, in this case, my father is the manager."
1987 Topps #420 Will Clark Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $50
If not for an elbow injury that cost him over a quarter of the 1986 season, San Francisco Giants first baseman Will Clark may have been a shoo-in for NL Rookie of the Year.
As it was, Clark finished in the top five and entered 1987 healthy and hungry to improve.
And improve Clark did.
In '86, the New Orleans native hit a homer in one of every 37.1 at-bats.
In '87, he cut that gap dramatically to one in every 15.1 at-bats.
The 23-year-old's power surge ignited a Giants franchise mired in mediocrity (sometimes much worse) for over a decade and a half.
Clark slashed .308/.371/.580 with 35 home runs, 29 doubles, five triples, 89 runs scored, and 91 RBIs.
He also provided veteran-level glove work at first, scooping and stretching with the best of them.
The second-year star was the standout for a 90-win Giants team that pulled away late for the team's first NL West title since 1971.
He finished fifth in the league's MVP race, setting the stage for five straight All-Star appearances from 1988 to 1992.
With Clark seemingly on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory early in his career, this card vaulted to the top of many collector's want lists.
Today, it still gets a lot of love from hobbyists from that era.
1987 Topps #680 Ryne Sandberg
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $50
Following the team’s 1984 NL East title, the Chicago Cubs backslid into the 70-77 win range for the next four years.
The team’s sudden decline coincided with an inconsistent stretch for ‘84 NL MVP Ryne Sandberg.
After a fine 1985 follow-up, the Cubs second baseman lost the plot with an underwhelming ‘86 campaign.
In ‘87, Sandberg bounced back at least somewhat.
Despite missing close to a month with a badly sprained ankle, the 27-year-old put together a fine individual effort.
Sandberg hit to a .294/.367/.442 slash line with 16 homers, 25 doubles, two triples, 21 stolen bases, 81 runs scored, and 59 RBIs in 131 games.
His .809 OPS wasn’t to the standard of his ‘84 and ‘85 seasons, but it was much better than the .741 mark he posted the year prior.
It didn’t add up to wins.
The 76-win Cubs finished in the cellar of a competitive NL East, their first last-place finish since the strike-shortened 1981 season.
1987 Topps #735 Rickey Henderson
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $50
A bum leg was the only thing that could stop Rickey Henderson in the 1980s.
Henderson led the league in stolen bases in nine of the decade's ten seasons, topping the Majors five times.
The only campaign that he didn't top the leaderboard was in 1987.
From April to July, the New York Yankees center fielder missed a third of the team's games with a sore right hamstring.
Henderson later said that he felt manager Lou Pinella made things much worse by playing him despite his injury.
On August 2nd, Henderson hit the disabled list again with soreness and swelling.
It brought the 27-year-old some satisfaction as critics called him out for potentially exaggerating the injury.
"Now, people are realizing that something is wrong," Henderson said. "It's not that I was jaking it or dogging it. There was really something wrong with my hammy."
Altogether, the future stolen base king missed 67 games for an 89-win Yanks squad on the cusp of legit contention.
It was a real shame.
The mercurial superstar was brilliant when he could play, swiping 41 bags in defiance of his injury (and his critics).
He ended '87 slashing .291/.423/.497 with 17 homers, 17 doubles, three triples, 80 walks, 78 runs scored, and 37 RBIs in 95 games.
1987 Topps #749 Ozzie Smith
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $45
Legendary St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith hit over .300 once in 19 years as a big-leaguer.
That came in 1987, en route to the Cards' second World Series appearance in three years.
Often painted as the archetype of a light-hitting, defense-first shortstop, Smith brought his bat with him this time.
"The Wizard" slashed .303/.392/.383 with 40 doubles, four triples, 43 stolen bases, 104 runs scored, and 75 RBIs in 158 games.
He didn't tally a home run for the second consecutive season but did everything else.
Smith's blend of speed, intellect, and all-universe defense was the engine that made the 95-win Cardinals move.
If it weren't for Andre Dawson's fireworks show at Wrigley, the first-time Silver Slugger and eight-time Gold Glover would have added an MVP award to his Hall-of-Fame resume.
Instead, Smith would have to "settle" for a runner-up finish and a playoff berth.
Unluckily for St. Louis, Smith's bat went cold in October.
He hit .200 in the Cards' seven-game NLCS win over the Giants and .214 in the team's seven-game World Series loss to Minnesota.
And so, an otherwise brilliant season ended in heartbreak for "The Wizard" and his legions of adoring fans.
1987 Topps #340 Roger Clemens
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $40
1987 Topps #634 Rafael Palmeiro Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $35
Rafael Palmeiro was another member of Topps' "Future Stars" subset who eventually lived up to that expectation.
True, like other payers on this list, his career ended in controversy, but his rookie card still holds up as one of this set's most valuable.
After a strong September stint with the big-league club in 1986, the 22-year-old slugger took his hacks at Triple-A to start the '87 season.
Those hacks came up gold more often than not.
Palmeiro hit .299 with a sparkling .913 OPS for the Iowa Cubs, launching 11 home runs in 221 at-bats.
By mid-June, it was clear that he had nothing left to prove at the minor-league level.
Palmeiro joined a flagging Chicago squad in dire need of a jolt.
He answered the call promptly with 14 home runs in just 221 at-bats.
Altogether, the rookie left fielder played in 84 games for the last-place Cubs, hitting .276 with a healthy .879 OPS.
Like Maddux, Palmeiro was one of the key players of that era who slipped away from the Cubs.
He put up some monster numbers year after year but, surprisingly, was only named to the All-Star team four times in his career.
1987 Topps Baseball Cards In Review
So there you have it, the ten most valuable 1987 Topps cards.
As you can see, it will take them being professionally graded in gem mint condition to be worth much.
This set was one of the most popular of the 1980's and contained a monstrous 792 card checklist in total.
Within the set were also several different subsets, including:
- All-Stars
- Checklists
- Future Stars
- Manager Cards
- Record Breakers
- Team Leaders
- Topps All-Star Rookies
- Turn Back The Clock
It really is a pretty decent set overall.
And for those of us who grew up collecting these in the late 1980's, they'll always have a huge nostalgic factor to them despite not having the most monetary value.
