The best baseball cards from the 1978 Topps Baseball set is full of Hall of Famers and stellar young players, but what was the year itself like? Mork & Mindy was on every card-collector’s television set, and John Travolta was Stayin’ Alive with the Bee Gees!
In 1977, the Yankees won their first of the ‘70s – beating the Royals in the ALCS and the Dodgers in the World Series. Those Dodgers beat the Phillies for the NL pennant. What’s weird is – those same four teams, and those same results, the Yankees beating the Dodgers, happened in 1978. Also weird – not one of these four teams made the postseason in 1979!
But while we’re talking about the 1978 Topps Baseball set, it was actually based off of what happened in 1977, when Rod Carew and George Foster won their league’s respective MVP Awards, and Sparky Lyle and Steve Carlton won Cy Youngs.
One of my all-time favorite designs, and the set itself is considered one of the best from the ‘70s. Twice as many cards from this 1978 set were sent to PSA for grading than from the 1977 set!
This was the first set I put together as a kid, when I was about 13 years old, in 1984, trading rookie cards of Rickey Henderson and Cal Ripken Jr. for commons of this set! Whatever. This was the largest set in a few years for Topps.
Can you guess what some of the top 10 baseball cards from 1978 Topps Baseball are? Can you guess the order of the top three?
For our card value rankings, we’re only talking about PSA 8 slabs of these cards, and we used the values from PSA’s online price guide. The card images are provided by BuySportsCards.com.
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Molitor is the leader on this multi-player card, but there’s one other Hall of Famer on this Rookie Shortstops card – Mickey Klutts, who was inducted into my personal Baseball Name Hall of Fame back in 1988. Trammell is a Baseball HOFer, too, I guess. This has to rank as the best dual-rookie card in baseball history.
View Paul Molitor/Alan Trammell Rookie Cards on eBay!
This is Murray’s rookie card, coming off him winning the 1977 American League Rookie of the Year award. Murray led the 1980s with 996 RBI, as he played with both the Orioles and Dodgers. Just one of seven players to be in both the 3K hit club and the 500-HR club! (Learn about the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup history here!)
View Eddie Murray Rookie Cards on eBay!
Ryan led the majors in 1977 with 22 complete games and 341 strikeouts – his third-highest strikeout season! Of the close to 4,000 that have been sent to PSA, only 3 have been deemed a PSA 10!
View Nolan Ryan Cards on eBay!
The ’77 season was Jackson’s first in New York, and allegedly calling himself “the straw that stirs the drink” didn’t help matters with teammates. But they won in both ’77 and ’78 and Jackson’s three homers in Game 3 of the World Series cemented his nickname as Mr. October. My favorite quote about Reggie Jackson came from Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, who played with Jackson for one season. He said he’d say Jackson was “arrogant, but the word arrogant isn’t arrogant enough.”
View Reggie Jackson Cards on eBay!
Of the 2,100 that have been sent to PSA, only 10 have been deemed a PSA 10! An article on PSA mentions print lines and bad centering as the usual culprits for lower grades.
View George Brett Cards on eBay!
This might not have been Dawson’s rookie card, but since he was on a four-panel rookie card in 1977, this was actually his first solo baseball card. Hawk won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1977, and he’d go on to have a HOF career.
View Andre Dawson All-Star Rookie Cup Cards on eBay!
While catchers aren’t normally very collectible, Bench is one of the exceptions, and The Big Red Machine owned the mid-‘70s. It was one of the very few non-Yankees dynasties before the turn of the century.
View Johnny Bench Cards on eBay!
Murphy was listed on a four-panel Rookie Catchers card for the second year in a row, this time with Lance Parrish, even though Murphy would eventually be known as an All-Star outfielder. His 1979 Topps card would actually be his first solo card.
View Dale Murphy Rookie Cards on eBay!
Munson was the Yankees captain for their two World Series title, and he was a notable grump. He was the favorite player of my brother Mike, who was also a notable grump! The 1978 season would be Munson’s last full season before dying in a plane crash in the following summer. How important was he to NY? They immediately retired his number 15 jersey and dedicated a plaque to him in Monument Park.
View Thurman Munson Cards on eBay!
Detroit Tigers collectors love the 1978 Topps set more than any other set, considering it has rookie cards for Trammell, Sweet Lou Whitaker (he should definitely be in the HOF, btw) and HOF pitcher Jack Morris. All three contributed greatly to their 1984 World Series championship! Sweet Lou was your 1978 American League Rookie of the Year! (Bob Horner was the NL Rookie of the Year with the Braves.)
View Lou Whitaker Rookie Cards on eBay!
Other great cards from the 1978 Topps Baseball set to consider:
Don’t forget to check out our other great “Top 10 Rankings” articles and videos from these other Topps Baseball sets:
How many of these 10 best baseball cards from 1978 Topps Baseball set do you have?
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