1985 Topps -Part 3 (Old and New)

Another reason 1985 was such a great set was because of the presence of some of the old greats on their last legs along with a bunch of rookies that would soon take over the game. In the first position, Orel Hershiser. Hershiser would quickly become one of the best pitchers in the league and lead his team to a World Series victory in 1988.

Other significant rookies in the '85 set were future HOFer Kirby Puckett, The best pitcher of his generation (tainted by the steroids scandal), Roger Clemens, Eric Davis (who at one time was thought to be the next biggest thing), Mark Langston, and Mark McGuire on the USA card. The USA cards were a huge hit with me personally. Fresh off the 1984 Summer Olympics high, I remember opening 1985 packs and hoping to find the USA cards in it. I still remember the USA cards I had as a kid - Obbie McDowell, and Cory Snyder. I also included Vince Coleman's '85 Traded card.

On to the oldies after the slides.

Several of the big names in baseball were still plugging away in 1985. Most would retire in the next year or three (Nolan Ryan kept going into the '90s). It was fun to look at the small print on their statistics and see all those numbers stretching back into the 60s. Here are Reggie Jackson, Phil Neikro just fluttering off a knuckleball, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, and hit-king Pete Rose (who was also the Reds manager) and Nolan Ryan. The backs with all those stats are also included.