For a lot of years, there wasn’t a ton to love about 1979 Topps baseball cards.
Sure, there was the Ozzie Smith rookie card, but Ozzie was “just” a defensive whiz and would never make the Hall of Fame … right?
Then there were a few lesser rookies like Carney Lansford and Bob Horner, and some fun but sorta gimmicky All-Time Leaders cards, but …
This thing was going nowhere.
Except …
Ozzie became a legend on a beeline to Cooperstown.
Paul Molitor found a way to overcome his injuries and off-field problems to put together an unbelievable late-career run, making his second-year card a hot item.
And we woke up one day to find that this set was 30+ years old and not mass-produced like stuff from the Junk Wax Era.
Suddenly, 1979 Topps was a winner — with some cards being more winning than others.
With that in mind, here are the 15 most valuable cards from the 1979 Topps baseball card set based on PSA 9 selling prices as reported in the Auction Prices Realized (APR) tool.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon links for the cards being discussed.)
15) 1979 Topps Eddie Murray (#640)
Murray followed up his Rookie of the Year showing in 1977 with an even stronger 1978.
By the end of 1979, the young, slugging first baseman was a key member of yet another Orioles pennant-winner.
Eventually, of course, Eddie would accumulate more than 3000 hits and 500 home runs en route to Cooperstown.
And, of course, all his cards — and especially early ones like this 1979 — are hobby heavyweights.
Value: $85-95
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14) 1979 Topps Mike Schmidt (#610)
Schmidt entered 1979 as a three-time home run champ, but coming off a relatively paltry showing in 1978 that produced just 21 dingers and 78 RBI.
With his 30th birthday looming that September, there were fears Schmidt’s best days were behind him.
He quieted that noise pretty quickly, thanks to his first 40-homer season, then followed up by winning NL MVP awards in both 1980 and 1981, then again in 1986.
Today, this 1979 Topps card — with no All-Star banner — is just another of Schmitty’s classic issues that always makes collectors happy.
Value: $90-100
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13) 1979 Topps Rod Carew (#300)
Carew won his seventh and final American League batting title, just a year after hitting an unreal .388.
His place in Cooperstown was all but wrapped up by the time this card hit shelves in the spring of 1979, and, like the Reggie, it sports the All-Star banner … what’s not to love?
Value: $90-110
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12) 1979 Topps Thurman Munson (#310)
Every year as summer wanes, the baseball world pauses to remember the legacy of Thurman Munson, the Yankees captain and superstar catcher killed in a plane crash on August 2, 1979.
He was one of the few active baseball players to be taken from us during the season and remains one of the greatest catchers not enshrined in Cooperstown.
Will Munson ever make the Hall of Fame cut?
Hard to say, but his 1979 Topps issue is also his last major-brand card as an active player, and it’s become something of a classic.
Value: $90-120
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11) 1979 Topps Jim Palmer (#340)
Jim Palmer was sort of like the 1970s baseball version of Tom Brady — part of a tremendously successful franchise, sickeningly good looking, and damn good at his job.
How good?
From 1970 through 1978, Palmer won 20 or more games eight times, nabbed three AL Cy Young Awards, and helped the Orioles to four AL East titles, two AL pennants, and one World Series championship (with pennants in 1969 and 1979 thrown in for good measure).
And he was an underwear model.
After all that, you might have expected all of his baseball cards to have been destroyed in a mass-hysteria jealous rage, but his solid 1979 Topps issue lives on just fine.
Value: $90-125
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