Pete Rose Baseball Cards: Values and Collector’s Guide

1965 was a big year for America.

Troops were landing in Vietnam, but at home baseball was still alive and well.

The 1965 Topps set design is still regarded as one of the best ever made, with cards holding up well over 50 years later.

A bright yellow banner flag states the team name, while a full color photo of Rose holding the bat, ready to hit, stands behind.

The card has a solid blue border with Pete’s name and position written in the bottom right corner.

Some say Topps missed the mark a bit with their 1966 set, with less eye catching features than surrounding years.

The card has a photo of Pete, bat in hand with a diagonal blue band across the top right corner with the team name.

Under the photo is his name and position with a blue background.

The whole card has a thin black line bordering it.

Almost all of these cards are tilted, making properly centered ones hard to come by.

Another collector’s favorite, the Topps 1967 set is famous for its bright colored photos and clean design.

Pete’s card has a great photo where you can almost see his grin cracking.

He’s holding the bat from the left, which many believed to be an error.

It wasn’t, as Pete was an excellent switch-hitter.

The Reds’ name trails the bottom in bright green, for some accidental irony.

His signature lies just above the team name while his name and position are spread out across the top.

While the year itself wasn’t too exciting for Pete, mint #430s will still fetch about $1500.

It was the year of the pitcher, with he Tigers taking the world series.

Even though Tiger cards outshine most others from that year, the 1968 Pete Rose baseball card is still a needed piece in any fan’s collection.

Pete had a 22-game hitting streak at the beginning of the season that helped him win the batting title.

The card itself has a textured canvas background, a design technique that was new to Topps.

Rose’s last name is larger than his first, and in bright red font.

His team and position are contained in a blue bubble at the bottom right of the card.

One thing to note is that because the color is printed right to edge of this card, damages will be easier to see.

It’s tough to find any 1969 Topps cards that aren’t in rough shape.

The company had major chipping and centering issues with this set, along with a host of print defects.

The light or white backgrounds are unforgiving to any markings.

It wasn’t an outstanding year for Pete or for The Reds, leaving the 1969 Topps as one of his less valuable cards compared to others of the ’60s.

He also was not a part of the 1969 “White Letter” misprint phenomena, which added some collector value to the affected cards.

Nonetheless, no Rose collection is complete without this card.

The 1970 All-Star game ended with a bang, literally.

Rose collided right into the Indian’s pitcher, Ray Fosse, dislodging his shoulder.

Pete won the game with that wild move, leaving a rift between Fosse and him, which has lasted down to this day.

The Pete Rose Topps card for that year featured a headshot of Rose instead of the normal baseball pose.

The brightly colored photo catches Pete mid sneer, it seems.

The design used clean colors, pairing a grey background with white, black and red lettering.

With prices hovering in the lower ranges, this card makes an excellent memento of the events at the All-Star game.

Topps tried something new in 1971, going solid black on the backgrounds of their cards.

While this looks amazing on cards in good condition, any wear whatsoever shows up as white creases, chips and scratches.

The back of these cards were something special in themselves, featuring a black and white photo of the player followed by the player’s stats and bio.

Because of his popularity, it’s extremely hard to find a 1971 Topps Pete Rose baseball card that hasn’t been practically destroyed by the overeager kids of his day.

The card has Pete’s signature at the bottom of a full color photo, and can go for over $7000 if it’s a good one.

The seventies were a happening time.

Not even Topps could escape the excess of those days, with the 1972 set getting a little funky.

The borders of the cards are wacky and colorful while the font is a psychedelic 3D type.

For some reason, they chose to omit the player positions and leave all of the focus on the colorful display.

While you can find affordable Pete Rose 1972 cards, a mint one is still highly valuable due to the love it or hate look of the set.

Things were toned down in the 1973 Topps set.

The Pete Rose card features Pete looking high to the sky at the ball he’s just hit.

These action shots were a new touch to the baseball card design.

The player positions have corresponding silhouettes in front of colored circles.

The player name and full team name are written in the left bottom corner.

While the cleaner design is easy on the eyes, these cards are infamously off center.

They were also printed on a much thinner cardstock than years previous, making them far less durable.

Running with the action shot motif, Topps put out another card showing a mid-game Rose ready to bunt.

The card has a red banner on both the top and bottom showcasing the full team name.

This time they finally decided to give The Reds there color, and the look works.

This was the first year that Topps decided to release their whole set at once.

This was to stop competition with the release of football cards.

You could buy the set in full through the JC Penney’s catalog, and they’d throw in a bonus traded set to boot.

It was the first of two back to back years that The Reds would win the world series.

A big time for Pete, 1975 would also be the year that Topps created card magic.

This set is one of the all time most coveted collections.

The Rose card is bold, with a full color background of red and yellow, and a bold printed “Reds” across the top in blue ink.

The shot of Pete has his autograph across it, and there is a star in the right bottom corner highlighting his National League All-Star Status.

The card varies in value, with both affordable and expensive quality cards on the market.

The full border definitely makes this card prone to chipping, and many printing issues exist throughout the set.

Rose came to be known as the heart of the “Big Red Machine” that was The Cincinnati Reds.

As captain, Pete lead the team to their second world series win with his passionate attitude.

His intensity and eagerness to play were unlike any other.

The 1976 Topps card shows a focused Rose, flip-downs flipped up, eyes glaring at us and ready to go.

There is yet another star, this time in the bottom left corner, advertising his National League All-Star fame.

This is one of his more valuable Pete Rose baseball cards, with mint specimens topping $9000!

The ‘77 Topps Pete Rose card shows Pete with a mitt instead of his usual bat.

Still a National League All-Star, this time the card has a blue banner across the bottom to display the title.

His autograph is split up in a vertical fashion on the far side of the full color action shot.

It’s hard to come across good quality specimens in this set, as a flimsy stock was used.

The cards are also prone to smudges and smears, which can really muck them up.

While not a collector’s favorite, this card is still eye catching when you get one in good condition.

It was Pete’s last year with the Reds until the mid ’80s.

He was 37 years old when he reached his 3000 hit mark.

He also gave Joe DiMaggio a run for his money, coming close to Joe’s record with a 44-game hitting streak.

The card shows Pete sitting on the bench, watching the action for a change.

The team name is in a nice scroll font that has a classic baseball feel.

There are lots of these cards around, so it’s easy to add one to your collection.

While he started with The Phillies in 1979, his card still features him a member of The Reds for this year.

Topps switched back to the action shots, with lots of mid-game snaps on the cards from this set.

These cards are incredibly hard to find properly centered.

It’s said that no one has a complete high grade 1979 Topps set.

It’s also one of the first sets to feature the Topps baseball logo on the front of the card.

In 1980, Pete would win his third World Series title.

As the Phillies top hitter, he was a major part of the victory over the Kansas City Royals.

The card shows a mop-haired Rose close up in his Phillies gear.

His position and the team name are in colored, tilted banners on opposing corners.

His signature graces the bottom left area of the photo.

Rose was also a part of the special Topps Burger King set that was released of the Philadelphia Phillies.

These Burger King cards tend to be worth more than the standard Topps versions.

Topps went for a new look to try to keep up with the sprouting competition.

While not their cleanest design, you have to give them some creativity points for the use of the cartoon hat to show the team names.

The photos were definitely brighter and sharper than previous years.

With a bit of a nod to the 1963 set of twenty years earlier, Topps showcased two full color photos of players on the front.

Topps combined action with posed photos to give collectors more of what they wanted.

The classic blue and red color scheme works well in creating the baseball feel.

Here we see Rose, moments after a hit, looking out into the field.

Just below is a posed shot of him in his Phillies helmet.

The 1982 Topps set has been lovingly referred to as “the hockey stick set” for obvious reasons.

Collectors love the clean design, but due to the massive size of this set at 792 cards, many have not been able to complete it.

Pete was a regular Topps staple at this point.

His card features an in action shot of him waiting for a hit.

The pink and orange border colors are vibrant and eye catching.

Compared to its peers, the 1984 Topps set was relatively underwhelming.

Many great condition cards exist from this set at reasonable prices, which is a bonus for any looking to build their collections.

Topps kept the double photo motif going, keeping action and headshots on the front.

The backs of these card are horizontal and feature purple writing.

The 1985 Topps set went back to the one shot, classic looking baseball cards.

The cards have a full-sized photo on the front in bright, sharp colors.

The team names are spread on an angle at the bottom of the card, next to a circle containing the team logo.

The back of Pete’s card shows his complete Major League batting record along with a few basic facts about him.

This photo of him really starts to reveal his age, no longer the wild man full of energy that he once was.

The #1 Topps card from 1986 still carries some value today.

The card has Pete batting on the front of it, with The Reds’ name boldly written above in appropriate red font.

The top of the card has a black background which shortly transitions to white below the top of the photo.

Pete was still a regular staple in all of the card sets of 1986.

The last one on our list for today, the 1987 Topps Pete Rose card features him just as he’d like us to remember, playing the game.

The full color action shot is overlayed on what looks like a wooden background, made to resemble the wood of a bat perhaps.

Pete’s name is in a red box with his position absent.

The team logo is in the top left corner, edging onto the photo.

As the card is relatively newer, you can get your hands on a decent specimen without parting from a lot of cash.