The All-Time 1980s Topps All-Star Team, Part 1
The one where we establish the ground rules and make some picks
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Happy All-Star Week!
Hard to believe, but here we are already at the All-Star break!
To celebrate the occasion — and since we’re a 1980s sort of place — I thought I’d bring back a post I did a while back, presented here in two parts.
One today. One tomorrow.
Now on with …
Part 1, Wherein We Introduce a Premise and Get to Picking
The 1980s blessed us with some incredible baseball players and some pretty sweet Topps All-Star cards, too.
So, I thought it might be fun to marry the two and pull the best of the best into a single post.
Herewith, then, I present the All-Time 1980s Topps All-Star Team, with just a few rules:
Every set in the decade must be represented by one, and only one card.
Every position on the diamond must be covered (DH is not a position).
No player repeats.
Sound like a plan?
Good … here we go!
(Let me know in the comments where you think I’m off-base.)
1980 Topps Steve Carlton - Relief Pitcher
Let’s get one of the controversial picks out of the way right off the bat.
I know Steve Carlton was an all-time great starter, but he never had a 1980s season as great as Roger Clemens had in 1986. And, since this is an All-Star team, I can use starters as relievers (or relievers as starters if I wanted to).
And Lefty is, well, a lefty, so he complements Clemens.
This is a great, powerful All-Star card, too.
So … Carlton is our 1980 Topps All-Star card and our reliever, even though he won his third Cy Young Award that summer.
1981 Topps Mike Schmidt - 3rd Base
You say you like George Brett or Wade Boggs as your 1980s All-Star third baseman?
Well, that’s just so sad, too bad, buddy.
Mike Schmidt is the greatest third baseman who ever played the game, and this card was issued right smack in the middle of his peak.
Schmitty won the National League MVP in 1980, and he’d win it again in 1981 … and 1986.
On this card, Schmidt is in pure battle mode. You just know he’d disembowel you if you even breathed his direction while he was fielding the ball that was inevitably about to be smashed in his direction.
End of discussion.
1982 Topps Gary Carter All-Star - Catcher
Johnny Bench may have been the greatest catcher of all time, and Carlton Fisk may have accumulated more stuff than any other catcher, but Gary Carter was the catching face of the 1980s.
First with the Montreal Expos and then with the New York Mets, Carter was a perennial All-Star who could hit you a home run, handle your young pitchers, throw out a baserunner, or survive a plate collision.
And at the end of the day, he’d still look like a model — one with a warm and welcoming all-American smile. And he’s a Hall of Famer, to boot.
Dude had it all, just like his 1982 Topps All-Star card.
1983 Topps Rickey Henderson All-Star - Left Field
The 1983 Topps All-Star design was made for Rickey Henderson.
I mean, the only star that could come even close to the hot-doggety shininess of Rickey is the big blue one there near his left shoulder.
Henderson could do just about anything he wanted on the diamond, from hitting home runs to drawing walks to, of course, stealing bases.
About the only thing he didn’t do at the absolute highest levels was play centerfield, which explains why he started in left in the 1982 Summer Classic.
It also makes him a perfect LF and 1983 Topps pick for this team.
(Free) All-Star Trivia
Tomorrow, just in time for the actual All-Star Game, I’ll finish off the list and recap the complete lineup.
In the meantime, here is a quick little Kindle book to test your All-Star knowledge, in the most trivial of ways, naturally.
It’s free on Amazon through tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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