Darryl Strawberry rookie cards were hobby superstars before they ever even existed.
Say what?
Well …
When the New York Mets‘ prospect burst onto the National League scene as a rookie during the summer of 1983, everyone in the game sat up and took notice. And collectors? We started licking our chops, just dying for our first glimpse at some Darryl Strawberry baseball cards.
We didn’t have to wait all that long, thanks to the 1983 Topps Traded set that sold like hotcakes late that fall. And then the next spring, we finally got what we were really waiting for — Darryl Strawberry in our wax packs!
But, as much as the chase for those first Straw cards fueled the early 1984 market, there’s a lot more to the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year’s rookie card story than just a handful of regular-issue pasteboards.
In fact, depending on how you look at things, and on how picky you are in your definitions, you could count more than thirty(!) cards among Strawberry’s RCs.
Don’t believe me?
Well, then, read on for a complete rundown of every card of The Straw Man issued in 1984 or before.
Ready? Alright, then … lock your gaze on the ball. Get your leg cocked and ready to kick. And let’s take a big, sweet, left-handed swing at the glory of Darryl Strawberry rookie cards.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed. Except where noted, prices listed are for cards in PSA 10 condition, based on actual recent selling prices. )
Intro paragraph
Baseball Cards
1983 Topps Traded Darryl Strawberry Rookie Card (#108T)
This was the most eagerly awaited “traded” card up to that point, and it remained so all the way to … well, to the next year (1984), when Strawberry’s teammate Dwight Gooden put together an almost mythical season on the mound as a teenager.
But this 1983 Topps Traded Darryl Strawberry really made traded sets “stick” and ensured their viability and popularity for years to come.
Sure, that 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken, Jr., rookie card was gathering fans like pawpaws as Cal followed up his own Rookie of the Year campaign with an MVP performance in 1983. But Ripken already had a 1982 Topps rookie card, in the base set.
And the other big-bopping first-year man gave us something to chase all summer long, courtesy of the 1983 Fleer Ron Kittle rookie card.
We had to wait on Darryl, though, and he and Topps rewarded us handsomely.
Value: $400-450
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1984 Donruss Darryl Strawberry Rookie Card (#68)
The 1984 Donruss Darryl Strawberry rookie card was not his most popular or valuable RC out of the pack, at least not at the beginning of the card-collecting season. Indeed, we all pretty much entered that spring counting on Donruss to continue trundling along with sort of blah cards, the worst among the three manufacturers.
That’s the way it had been through their three-year presence in baseball cards, after all.
There was a definite stigma around Donruss in the hobby.
But when we saw the clean, classic design and improved photography, our perceptions began to change. And then we started to notice that Donruss cards were not all that easy to find.
And then … Don Mattingly.
All of those factors swirled together into a hobby tempest that lifted the entire boat and, before long, the 1984 Donruss version was the most expensive among all of his from-pack RCs.
Some things never change.
Value: $250-300
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1984 Fleer Darryl Strawberry Rookie Card (#599)
Fleer had made their initial step up in quality in 1983 after a couple of pretty rough issues in 1981 and 1982. So their1984 set was pretty eagerly awaited, and it delivered in an understated sort of way.
Right off the bat, of course, this smiling shot of Strawberry became the toast of the set.
It didn’t take too long for collectors to realize that 1984 Fleer packs weren’t all that easy to come by, either, and the Straw RC card climbed in price right along with Mattingly and all the rest.
Today, the Fleer set has fallen behind Topps and Donruss in overall popularity, but this is still an iconic card.
Value: $150-200
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1984 Topps Darryl Strawberry Rookie Card (#182)
If there’s one Darryl Strawberry card that’s indelibly etched onto the heart and soul of every 1980s collector, it’s this 1984 Topps rookie card.
Entire collections were traded on the playground just to get ‘hold of one of these beauties, featuring the young slugger in the followthrough of that powerful, graceful swing that was going to rewrite the record books.
If you ever popped one of these from a “live” wax pack – or hoped to – a mere glimpse of this card makes your heart flutter even today.
You had some choices in just how you picked up your 1984 Topps Darryl Strawberry, too. Down below, you’ll find a couple of parallels, and 1984 was also the first year that Topps issued their super glossy, premium Tiffany set.
Those were available only as factory sets, sold exclusively through hobby dealers. In all, Topps made 10,000 Tiffany sets in 1984, and you can expect to pay about four times the prices below for a glossy Strawberry RC in PSA 10 condition … if you ever run into one, that is!
Value: $200-225
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1982 TCMA Jackson Mets Darryl Strawberry (#21)
Strawberry took a pretty conventional route to the majors, starting out in rookie ball after going to the Mets with the #1 overall pick in the 1980 June MLB Draft.
He graduated to Single-A in 1981, then spent all of 1982 with the Double-A Jackson Mets. And it was there that Strawberry landed on his first professional baseball card, courtesy of the TCMA-issued team set.
The photo