[mrmopar]

This is harder that I thought. I always loved the AS banners and all rookie trophies on cards. They added a special extra to the basic Topps card. Then if there was an action shot as well, then the coolness factor was exponential.

Factor in not being able to reuse players later in the votes, you have to possibly toss some cool cards so that you can include them later.

Some honorable mentions include Darrell Porter, Frank White, Cesar Cedeno, Steve Garvey, JR Richard (too bad he didn't have an AS banner), any of the highlight cards, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Dave Parker...

Rickey Henderson is a choice made for this game, because he will not appear again, it is THE rookie of that year and he would eventually be a HOFer. It is also a nice action shot. I see how it will almost certainly be top 5, but it is a card I don't love personally. Had Rickey not gone on to the career he had, it would be another common batting action card from a set loaded with them.

#1. Ryan is the hands down best looking 1980 Topps card in my mind, the best Ryan card period (Topps really missed the boat with Ryan in the 70s) and possibly one of the greatest card images of all time.

#2. Next, I am going with Yastrzemski. Like Ryan, he didn't get enough of the cool card images a player of his caliber deserved. The 76 is a great action shot and would definitely be a strong contender that year, especially with an AS badge too (but he didn't have one). His 78 badge went with a boring profile shot, so this 79 Topps is the best of both worlds for me. Of course, he goes back to 1960, leaving just 1 other possibly year to vote for him in other rounds. That may bite me later.

Next, I will reluctantly move away from the AS banner cards, which are almost always my favorites. This is probably Ted Simmons' best card. Aside from Foster, they are all pretty decent card images. Instead I will go with players who will have no shot at showing up on the list again. All three are action shots I liked when I first saw the cards.

#3. Odell Jones. Jones gets the Mariner nod for the event. They were not a good team then and I am not sure the Ruppert Jones trophy card in 78 is strong enough to crack top 5 that year, so this is probably my only Mariner vote. I can't recall a single 70s-80s Mariner card with an AS banner (gorman Thomas had one of those Fleer inserts in the mid 80s that I liked a lot) and the only rookie cup was Rupe until the 1987 Tartabull. The Mariners never got any card respect in the early years. O. Jones was not a star either, but the pose is cool. Several other great action shots for the M's that year including Stinson, Mendoza, Roberts, Meyer, Bochte, but this one gets my vote.

#4. Next up is a cool fielding image. There just are not enough good fielding cards back in the 70s/80s. Again, this guy was no superstar, but he went on to have a decent career. He was the AL rookie of the year in 1979, so we won't see him again in this game. Nice first stand alone card, Alfredo Griffin.

#5. My last pick is probably a stretch. There are better images, but this guy will not get another shot either. He was also no superstar, but had a decent career. This is his rookie card and like the previous pick, he won ROY the prior year, NL. The action shot looks like it might have been practice, but it is still a nice rookie card. A rookie cup or AS banner would have cinched this as a top pick, but I still like it. Toss out the rules and it probably doesn't make top 5 though, even in my book.