Million Dollar Question – ‘When I Say 1989 Topps, You Think What Card’???

Million Dollar Question – ‘When I Say 1989 Topps, You Think What Card’???

The 1989 Topps baseball card set is one of my favorites issues from the 1980’s – call it a ’30-YOC Classic’.

I like the large images that the design allows for, and while the graphics are minimal, I do like how Topps merged the team name and player name into the same graphic.

When I think about the set, there are a lot of great cards.  I really like the team leader cards from the set and the Record Breakers are all really, really nice too.

But, when it comes right down to it, there is one stand-out card from the 1989 Topps set that I think of before I think of any other.

And it is:

Jim Abbott’s card – The 1st Round Draft Pick!!!

As a kid that followed baseball as closely as I did back in 1989, I was shocked to hear of Jim Abbott’s story, and even more shocked that I did not hear of him prior to the 1989 Topps card hitting the market.  Sure, I knew he had a card in the 1988 Topps Traded set as part of ‘Team USA’ but media coverage back then was nothing like it is today.  Hell, when I first heard of Abbott and his ability to play major league ball with just one hand, I was shocked.  And none of my friends believed me when I tried to share the knowledge.  There was no Internet, no baseball specific cable channels, etc. – you had to rely a lot more on print media and sometimes finding details like this took time….

To this day I find Jim Abbott to be one of the most inspirational professional athletes of my time and I truly appreciate the positive approach he has to life and to the challenges he faced as he fought his way to the big leagues.

Easily my favorite card from the 1989 Topps set!!!