The Most Iconic Sports Cards of the 1980s Not Named Ken Griffey Jr.

With the sports card market breaking records on the daily, collectors everywhere are looking back at their childhood collections and rediscovering the nostalgic cards that shaped the hobby. And while the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr is usually the first one that comes to mind, it’s certainly not the only card that defined the era. Here are four iconic cards from the 1980s that bring back the same sense of nostalgia and excitement from those early collecting days.

GemRate | Milestone Alert 🚨

A major grading milestone was crossed over the weekend as the iconic 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr Star Rookie #1 was graded for the 100,000 time. This is the first card to cross that milestone at @psacard. pic.twitter.com/RMAJC2rlwF
— GemRate (@gemrate) May 15, 2023

4. 1986 Topps Jerry Rice

1986 Topps Jerry Rice Rookie Card — https://www.ebay.com/itm/297286707538?nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver in football history, Jerry Rice’s rookie card is far more attainable than you might think, with over 64,000 copies graded. A low-grade copy can still be picked up for under $40, while a PSA 10, of which there are only 63, will set you back around $70,000.

3. 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson

1980 Topps Rickey Henderson Rookie Card — https://www.psacard.com/cert/30759268/psa

Finding the Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps rookie card as a PSA 10 dwarfs even the difficulty of the Jerry Rice rookie. With almost 67,000 copies graded, only 26 have been given a Gem Mint label by PSA, with the most recent copy selling at auction for $150,000.

2. 1980 Topps Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson

1980 Topps Magic Johnson Larry Bird Rookie Card — https://bid.collectrea.com/marketplace/1788

The 1980 Topps Magic Johnson and Larry Bird rookie card is iconic, not only for its three-panel strip design with perforated lines that kids often separated, but for putting the greatest rivalry in NBA history on the same rookie card. With only 24 PSA 10s out of over 25,000 graded copies, they don't show up for sale every day. The most recent PSA 10 sold for around $800,000, expensive but fitting for the most premium version of one of the most iconic basketball cards of all time.

PSA has graded over 16,000 Topps 1980 Bird/Magic/Dr J cards and this is one of just 24 to achieve a Gem Mint 10

Of those 16,000+ submissions over half (9,500) occurred in just the last 8 years with only two examples being added to the Gem Mint tallyhttps://t.co/RwCcVCEKUv pic.twitter.com/R5jZjHL7jG
— Heritage Auctions Sports (@Heritage_Sport) April 28, 2025

1. 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer Rookie Card — https://www.psacard.com/cert/08151355/psa

Last but certainly not least is the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card. While it’s not the rarest or the most expensive card on the list, it is unquestionably one of the most iconic sports cards ever produced. It has a PSA 10 population of 338 and last sold for just over $231,000. That’s more than one and a half times the price of the most recent Rickey Henderson sale, despite there being nearly thirteen times as many PSA 10s in circulation.