Mark McGwire RC & the Top 3 Cards From the 1985 Topps Olympic Subset

With the Olympics nearly arriving, it's time to revisit a glorious collectible moment-- Topps's first ever-Olympic baseball cards. Baseball doesn't have a long Olympic history-- it wasn't even an official Olympic medal sport until 1992. And Olympic cards date for decades before 1985 Topps. But for making Olympic cards wildly popular, nothing hit like 1985 Topps baseball.

The 1984 U.S. Olympic baseball team made a few headlines in the Los Angeles games. It's worth noting that the team didn't win-- Japan bested the U.S. 6-3 for the title. But seeing a team full of college superstars under USC coach Rod Dedeaux provided a great preview of future MLB stars. Topps took notice and signed agreements with 16 players and Dedeaux to have cards in the 1985 Topps set.

The one issue here was amateurism-- Topps signed players who were heading into the MLB Draft and thus weren't a threat to lose their amateur status. Four members of the U.S. roster weren't able to sign with Topps because it would have compromised their amateur eligibility at the time to be paid for rights to be included in Topps's set. Unfortunately, two of the four were Barry Larkin and Will Clark, future stars who would have definitely added some oomph to Topps's set.

But here's the top 3 cards that did make the set:

3. Cory Synder

Snyder was widely hyped as a future star and was a big grab in the 1985 Topps set. He ended up fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year vote with the Cleveland Indians in 1986. Snyder was on Topps's All-Star Rookie team in the 1987 set, and he ripped 33 homers the following year.

Snyder didn't hit for a high enough average to last very well. He finished a nine-year career as a .247 hitter with 149 home runs. Accordingly, his cards are still pretty cheap as a memory of US Olympic baseball glory. A PSA 8 sold for $7 last month.

2. Shane Mack

Mack is one of the underappreciated standouts from that 1984 Olympic team. The No. 11 pick in the 1984 Draft by the Padres, Mack took a while to hit the big leagues and didn't see stardom. But he had a few big years, hitting .310 with 18 home runs for the Twins in 1991 while winning the World Series. In 1992, Mack looked primed for stardom, hitting .315 with 16 homers and 75 RBIs.

Mack only ended up getting 400 at bats in three seasons. But he was a career .299 hitter with a 121 OPS+ who helped Minnesota win a World Series. He's still a bargain, with PSA 9 version of the card going for $15 and even an autographed PSA 9 fetching just under $40.

1. Mark McGwire

Had Topps gotten Larkin or Will Clark in the set, the honors of top card would be tough. As it is, it's always been Big Mac. When McGwire hit 49 homers in 1987, collectors could nab his 1987 Topps rookie or this Olympic card, which shot up in price.

It jumped again in 1998, when McGwire hit 70 home runs and electrified baseball fans everywhere. Needless to say, the card took a substantial hit with the subsequent performance-enhancing drug scandal that has kept McGwire out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

McGwire was a 12-time All-Star, hit 583 home runs, and will be remembered as the star of a tainted era of baseball. At some point, he'll end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and his single-season home run mark, while one that only lasted a few years, will always made him remembered among collectors.

The 1985 Topps card remains one of the iconic cards of the 1980s-- commonly available raw for $10 or so, and in PSA 8 for $25-30. A PSA 9 still goes for around $150-$200. The PSA 10 population is small-- 307-- and those are running for around $4,000. A Topps Tiffany PSA 10 sold for $30,500 last year.