Topps Changed Collecting with 1981 Topps Traded
The first time Topps made the extended series of its flagship product a standalone set was when it made 1981 Topps Traded available only through hobby dealers. Featuring the first Topps solo cards of Hall of Famer Tim Raines and pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela, the set includes nine Hall of Fame players and is affordable for collectors across the hobby spectrum.
The lineage of the Topps Traded brand continues today for baseball card collectors with Topps Update, which the company went to in 2008 when it renamed the extended series.
Traded cards existed before 1981, but that’s when Topps changed the game by making the extended series a standalone set rather than putting the cards into packs. If collectors wanted any of the 132 cards to complete a set, or to get the card of their favorite player wearing the uniform of their new team, the only options were to either buy a boxed set through a hobby dealer or wait for the singles to surface.
According to PSA, cards in the 1981 Topps Traded set are distinguished from their regular issue counterparts by the letter ‘T’ printed after the card number on the reverse. Each card also carries a different likeness from the regular 1981 edition. A color image is enhanced with a bi-colored border on two sides and the player’s name, team and position at the bottom border.”
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The Hall of Fame rookie cards of Harold Baines (#347) and Tim Raines (#479, along with fellow Montreal Expos rookies Roberto Ramos and Bobby Pate) could be pulled out of packs. The same was true for the rookie cards of Fernando Valenzuela (#302, featured alongside Los Angeles Dodgers rookies Jack Perconte and Mike Scioscia) and Kirk Gibson (#315), and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson’s second card in the flagship series (#261).
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Still, the 1981 Topps Traded checklist packs a punch with nine Hall of Fame veterans. Raines is one of those nine, and rather than sharing his flagship rookie card with two Expos teammates, he and Valenzuela got the solo treatment in the extended series.
Copies of the Raines card (#816) graded a Gem Mint 10 by PSA are small in population (164) and routinely sell for four figures (the last sale verified by Card Ladder was from a Fanatics Collect weekly auction, which ended on March 23 with a winning bid of $1,320). However, the PSA 9 copy of the card has a significantly higher population (907 copies) and is available at a more palatable price point ($64.74), according to the last 10 sales verified by Card Ladder.
Valenzuela (#850) had a memorable 1981 season as a 20-year-old rookie for the Dodgers, winning the National League Cy Young Award and being named NL Rookie of the Year en route to the fifth of the franchise’s eight World Series victories. Like Raines’ rookie card in the extended series, copies of Valenzuela’s first Topps solo card graded a Gem Mint 10 by PSA are hard to come by (population of 22) with a four-figure price point (according to Card Ladder, the most recent PSA 10 sold for $2,999 on Fanatics Collect on March 25). The card has a PSA 9 population of 285 and has sold for an average of $264.27 based on the last nine Card Ladder-verified sales), which makes the PSA 8, with a population of 536 and 10 Card Ladder-verified sales in 2025 averaging $80.86, a good option for Dodger fans or hobbyists looking to add a Valenzuela Topps rookie card to their collection.
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Rollie Fingers (#761) became the third pitcher to win the American League Cy Young Award and be named AL MVP in the same season in his first campaign with the Milwaukee Brewers. A card from arguably Fingers’ best season (a 6-3 record with 1.04 ERA and an AL-leading 28 saves) is obtainable at a relatively reasonable price point. Nine Card Ladder-verified sales of a Fingers Topps Traded card graded a Gem Mint 10 by PSA (population of 177) throughout 2025 have averaged $59.69, ranging from $38.09 (eBay on Feb. 25) to $87.78 (eBay on Feb. 1).
The 1981 season was the first of nine Dave Winfield (#855) spent with the New York Yankees, the team with which he played the most games (1,172), recorded the most hits (1,300), drove in the most runs (818), scored the most runs (722), hit the most home runs (205) and made the most All-Star Game appearances (eight) across a 22-year, Hall of Fame career with six different teams. Only 76 copies of Winfield’s first card in Yankee pinstripes exist in Gem Mint 10 condition, with Card Ladder verifying just four sales in 2025 (an average of $135, none higher than a $138 winning bid in a Fanatics Collect auction on April 20).
The set has averaged $46.58 over the last five sales (based on eBay’s sold listings or verified sales by Card Ladder), which range from $29.99 (an April 22 eBay purchase) to $62.97 (an accepted eBay offer on May 20). Two sets, authenticated and wrapped by the Baseball Card Exchange (BBCE), sold on eBay on May 18 for $159.99 and $174.99, respectively.
-1f9b5aba42acf122a9de17edfe18f6ad.jpeg "Jeff Howe")
Jeff Howe is a sports writer with over two decades of professional experience contributing to ESPN.com, Rivals.com and the Sporting News, among other publications. He currently reports on the Texas Longhorns for “On Texas Football” after covering the Longhorns for 247Sports and CBS Sports. His hobby journey started when he was 6 years old, hanging out at his dad’s card shop and collecting cards alongside his two brothers.