To wrap up the decade, the 1979 Topps baseball card set offered a great design, colorful imagery and plenty of star power.
And the Ozzie Smith rookie card would eventually become one of the most iconic of the era.
I love the old Topps logo that sits in the bottom-left corner of the front of the cards and the photography was pretty good for the time.
While several players on this list were All-Stars in 1978, only those who were starters received the "All-Star" designation on the front of their cards.
Many would consider this a somewhat overlooked set, but its popularity has continued to grow over time.
And in this guide, I'll run through the ten most valuable.
Let's jump right in!
1979 Topps #116 Ozzie Smith Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $2,250
Ozzie Smith tested the limits of his defense-first mentality during the 1979 season.
One year after his runner-up finish for Rookie-of-the-Year, the St. Louis Cardinals shortstop settled into the ultimate sophomore slump.
Smith opened the year on a 32-at-bat hitless streak before finally scratching one on April 13th.
It could only go up from there.
However, it only went so far.
Smith ended the campaign with the worst OPS of his career (.522), hitting just .211 with zero home runs and 27 RBIs.
His 28 stolen bases were something, yet his 48 OPS+ was among the very worst for MLB regulars.
Any other player would have been benched or sent down within months.
But Smith’s immaculate defense, including an NL-best 555 assists, proved the great equalizer, as it did for most of his Hall-of-Fame career.
“I may not drive in 100 runs each year, but I can prevent 100 runs from scoring against us,” Smith said.
His rookie card is one of the most iconic of the 1970s.
1979 Topps #30 Dave Winfield
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $650
The San Diego Padres took a depressing step back in 1979, in a season when their best player took a massive step forward.
One year before, the Padres celebrated the franchise’s tenth anniversary with their first-ever winning season.
It coincided with 26-year-old outfielder Dave Winfield’s coming-out party: a second All-Star appearance and a top-ten MVP finish.
Winfield put that outing to shame in ‘79 with the best performance of his Hall-of-Fame career.
Placing third in the league MVP race, the hulking 6-foot-6 slugger slashed .308/.395/.558 with NL bests in RBIs (118), OPS+ (166), total bases (333), and intentional walks (an MLB-best 24).
He also hit 34 home runs, stole 15 bases, and rounded out his game with a career-high 85 walks.
Winfield evolved, but the Padres did not.
San Diego returned to their bottom-feeding roots, dropping from 84 to 68 wins for the team’s worst record in a half-decade.
1979 Topps #40 Dennis Eckersley
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $650
One of the greatest closers of all time was pretty decent as a starter, too.
In 1979, Dennis Eckersley followed up a top-three AL Cy Young finish with arguably his best season in a starting role.
The 24-year-old Boston Red Sox righty posted three fewer losses than his '78 breakout, yet that tells a very incomplete tale.
Eckersley pitched to the same ERA as '78 (2.99) and turned in both a better WHIP (1.188) and an MLB-best 149 ERA+.
From July 11th to August 14th, the now two-time All-Star won eight straight decisions, with the first seven being complete games.
Eck stumbled down the stretch due to exhaustion, which would factor into his move to the bullpen in 1987.
That's a minor footnote.
If not for the prioritization of wins in the late 1980s, it's plausible he'd be the only pitcher to win Cy Youngs as both a reliever and a starter.
1979 Topps #115 Nolan Ryan
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $375
What the heck were the Angels thinking?
The Halos had it so good in 1978.
Staff ace Nolan Ryan returned to All-Star status after a lackluster '77, finishing 16-14 with a 3.60 ERA, 17 complete games, and an MLB-high five shutouts in 34 starts.
The 32-year-old topped the Junior Circuit in strikeouts for the seventh time in eight seasons with California (223) and led the league in hits-per-9 (6.8) and Ks-per-9 (9.0).
His win-loss record may have raised eyebrows, but Ryan was indispensable to the Halos' improbable rise to a first-ever division title.
First-year manager Jim Fregosi knew that, and that's why he tabbed Ryan for California's first-ever postseason contest, a seven-inning, one-run no-decision in an extra-inning loss.
California fell three games to one to Baltimore, ending things on a sour note.
It got even sourer after the season when general manager Buzzie Bavasi made the baffling call to let Ryan walk to the Astros in free agency.
1979 Topps #650 Pete Rose
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $375
Well before Pete Rose became MLB's all-time hits king, he received his coronation as NL singles royalty.
In the front end of a doubleheader on August 6th, 1979, the Philadelphia Phillies first baseman slapped a bases-loaded single off Pittsburgh Pirates veteran Bert Blyleven for his 2,927th one-bagger.
Rose's clutch hit pushed him past Hall-of-Famer Honus Wagner as the most prolific singles hitter in Senior Circuit history.
"I want to be the first singles hitter ever to get a $100,000 salary," Rose once said.
He got his wish and then some.
Prior to the '79 campaign, the controversial icon inked a four-year, $3 million deal to move from Cincinnati to Philly, which would pay him an annual salary of 7.5 times his desired wage.
Rose rewarded his new employers with one of the best-hitting performances of his 24-year career.
The 38-year-old hit .331 with an NL-best .418 on-base percentage in 163 games, good for his second-best OBP mark.
1979 Topps #24 Paul Molitor
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $315
Like Winfield, Paul Molitor was another St. Paul, Minnesota native who would go down in history as one of the greatest of all-time.
Few possessed the combination of speed and hitting ability that Paul Molitor did, which made him a nightmare for opposing defenses.
To give you an idea of how great Molitor was, he's currently ninth in career hits and 21st in runs scored.
You simply did not want to see this guy in the batter's box if you were the other team.
And he did all this while missing nearly 500 games, many of them in the first half of his career, due to injury.
Molitor made his cardboard debut a year earlier in the 1978 Topps set, making this his second-year card.
1979 Topps #330 George Brett
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $275
George Brett trudged through most of the '78 campaign with a left shoulder injury and bone chips in his right thumb.
His shoulder healed fine enough, but his thumb wasn't so lucky.
The Kansas City Royals third baseman exacerbated the injury during an offseason charity basketball game and was forced to undergo surgery.
He missed all of Spring Training and needed to wear a protective covering for most of the regular season.
Whether due to pain or the awkwardness of the protective device, Brett flatlined out of the gates, hitting just .240 through mid-May.
The 26-year-old sure figured it out, even if the rest of the Royals didn't.
Brett went off for the rest of the campaign, ending up third in the AL MVP race with a .329 average, 23 home runs, and MLB bests in hits (212) and triples (20).
While he soared, the Royals sank.
The 85-win Kansas City Royals dropped seven wins from '78, missing the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
1979 Topps #55 Willie Stargell
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $185
Willie Stargell should have won the 1979 NL MVP award outright.
The Pittsburgh Pirates slugger hammered 32 home runs despite missing over a month of the regular season, serving as the most offensive force for perhaps the most entertaining World Series champ in modern history.
He picked up 10 of 24 first-place votes and should have cruised to an award win.
Instead, he was inexplicably completely left off four of those ballots.
The omissions settled him into a tie with the Cardinals' Keith Hernandez, marking the first-ever vote to end with co-MVPs.
At least the 39-year-old first baseman got the last laugh.
Stargell put on a show in his final postseason, becoming the first player ever to win LCS and World Series MVP honors in the same year.
The future Hall-of-Famer ripped through the Reds in a three-game NLCS sweep, followed by a .400 average, three homers, and seven RBIs in Pittsburgh's heart-stopping seven-game Fall Classic triumph over the Baltimore Orioles.
1979 Topps #39 Dale Murphy
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $175
There's an outside chance that Dale Murphy would have been a Hall-of-Famer if the 1979 season had gone differently.
Murphy was among the only things worth cheering for during the Atlanta Braves' fourth consecutive last-place season.
He surged through April and May, hitting over .340 and placing near the top of the NL in home runs (13) and RBIs (37).
It's not inconceivable that Murphy could have won his first MVP, even as the Braves flailed and embarrassed themselves.
That would have made three MVPs for Murphy and could have neutralized his later decline for Cooperstown enshrinement.
Sadly, an injury kept that hypothetical from becoming a reality.
In late May, Murphy was diagnosed with torn cartilage in his left knee.
The Atlanta Braves catcher missed nearly two months, cutting his award bid off before it really began.
He slumped severely upon his return and ended the campaign, slashing .276/.340/.469 with 21 home runs and 57 RBIs in 104 games.
1979 Topps #510 Ted Simmons
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $125
Perhaps it was divine intervention that helped Ted Simmons earn his Cooperstown plaque.
"I'm getting to the point where I know what I'm doing," Simmons said. "The man (upstairs) gave me some good tools. And you don't mess with the man."
Whether it was design or hard work, Simmons reinforced his standing as one of the greatest backstops of his generation with a brilliant 1979.
The St. Louis Cardinals star bludgeoned NL pitching during the first half of the season, tallying 16 home runs and 45 RBIs by mid-June, both good for fourth in the National League.
He was an easy pick for his eighth All-Star appearance but could not appear after breaking a bone in his left wrist.
Simmons didn't miss a beat when he returned and finished with 26 round-trippers for his third of four consecutive 20-home run seasons.
He slashed .283/.369/.507 and drove in 87 in just 126 games played.
1979 Topps #251 Jack Morris
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $110
The Detroit Tigers played it safe with Jack Morris for good reason.
Selected in the fifth round of the 1976 MLB Draft, Morris harnessed a naturally explosive fastball with a rounded-out arsenal.
However, he continually ran into arm issues and bounced between the Minors and Motown for most of the 1970s.
Morris was shut down in 1977 after a month or so in the Tigers' starting rotation.
His troublesome arm again limited his time in '78.
In 1979, Morris was sent down to Double-A Evansville after Spring Training for one last bit of seasoning.
"You better get a good look at him now because he won't be here in a month," Evansville manager Jim Leyland predicted.
Leyland was dead on the money.
Morris joined the Tigers on May 15th to stay.
The 24-year-old righty quickly emerged as Detroit's ace and posted the most WAR (5.8) of his Hall-of-Fame career.
He finished 17-7 for the 85-win Tigers with the fifth-best ERA in the American League (3.28).
1979 Topps #300 Rod Carew
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $100
Even with a busted thumb, Rod Carew was a cut above most MLB hitters.
After winning six AL batting titles in seven years with the Twins, Carew was dealt to the Angels in a February 1979 blockbuster.
The move immediately boosted season ticket sales, and the stars seemed aligned for a California come-up.
It all panned out beautifully.
A year after fading just short of the franchise's first division title, the newly revitalized Angels outlasted the AL West field for their first division crown.
The ride there, though, was extremely bumpy.
Carew missed nearly two months with a thumb injury and had to change his hitting approach on the fly.
"I can't manipulate the bat because my right hand is my power hand," Carew said. "So I make adjustments."
Being Rod Carew, the adjustments obviously worked.
The 33-year-old hit .318 in 110 regular-season games, good for eighth in the AL if he had qualified for the batting race.
1979 Topps #340 Jim Palmer
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $100
After four years of near misses, the Baltimore Orioles returned to the October stage in 1979.
Impressively, they did without Jim Palmer at his best.
On the heels of his fifth top-three Cy Young finish in six seasons, the 33-year-old righty opened up strong yet again with a 6-2 record and 2.80 ERA through the season’s first two months.
With the O’s in prime position for an AL East title, Palmer seemed destined for another Cy Young podium.
Nagging arm issues kept that from happening.
Palmer labored through the final four months of the regular season with throwing arm soreness.
He landed on the disabled list twice and pitched at a league-average clip for most of the second half.
The 33-year-old made just 23 regular-season starts and pitched to his worst ERA (3.30) since his 1966 sophomore season.
He looked solid in three playoff efforts but no longer looked like the unquestioned ace of a deep O’s starting rotation.
1979 Topps #680 Carlton Fisk
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $100
An ill-fated decision at the end of the 1978 season haunted Carlton Fisk throughout the '79 campaign.
Late in July '78, Fisk broke a rib, crashing into a wall in pursuit of a foul ball.
Rather than sitting out, the Hall-of-Fame catcher sucked it up and kept going.
Somebody should have stopped him.
Not even the team's physician pulled him aside to advise him.
Instead, Fisk gutted through and suffered through Boston's AL East tiebreaker loss to the Yankees.
During the stretch run, the veteran catcher injured his right elbow while attempting to compensate for his rib pain.
That injury and the rib issue cost Fisk nearly half of the 1979 season.
His throwing remained compromised, and his .304 on-base percentage was the worst of his career thus far.
Fisk shouldered much of the blame but also called out the team's doctor for not indicating "what the cause and effect could really be."
1979 Topps #700 Reggie Jackson
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $90
1979 Topps #136 Jim Kaat
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $85
Jim Kaat was a baseball cockroach.
Whenever you thought his career was over, he’d scurry to another team and earn another lucrative contract.
The 40-year-old lefty washed out in Philadelphia in early 1979 as Phillies fans called for his head.
The Phillies sold Kaat’s contract to the New York Yankees, a move that seemed like a professional death knell.
Kaat had other ideas.
The crafty lefty reinvented himself in the Bronx, moving from the starting rotation to the bullpen.
He acquitted himself nicely in his new role, pitching to a 3.86 ERA in 40 appearances, a 1.337 WHIP, and a 106 ERA+ in 58.1 innings.
Teams always need southpaw relief help, and Kaat’s resurgence made him a valuable commodity.
Once left for dead in Philly, the Hall-of-Famer signed back on with the Yankees in the offseason for $150,000.
Retirement would have to wait…
…for nearly another half-decade.
1979 Topps #320 Carl Yastrzemski
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $85
From 1965 to 1979, Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski was an All-Star shoo-in.
The last season of that sensational 15-year stretch was the most historic of them all.
On July 24th, 1979, Yastrzemski crushed his 400th career home run off Oakland A's starter Mike Morgan.
The bomb whipped the Fenway Park crowd into a frenzy and moved Yaz alongside Ted Williams as the only two Red Sox hitters to reach the plateau.
Less than two months later, the 39-year-old rapped a single off New York Yankees pitcher Jim Beattie to become the 15th member of the 3000 Hit Club.
In doing so, Yaz became the first 400/3000 hitter in American League history.
"I'd like to thank God for giving me this great body and the desire to achieve 3000," Yazstremski said afterward.
Yaz ended his milestone-making campaign slashing .270/.346/.450 with 21 home runs and 87 RBIs in 147 games.
1979 Topps #310 Thurman Munson
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $75
The New York Yankees had the day off on August 2, 1979, but it would turn out to be a very dark day in both franchise and baseball history as that was the day that their team captain, Thurman Munson, would die as a result of a plane crash.
It was a devastating blow to the baseball world and to a Yankees team that was coming off back-to-back World Series titles in the 1977 and 1978 seasons.
While he may not be a Hall of Famer, few players were as beloved and vital to their team's success as Munson was.
To this day, he remains a Yankee icon and his cards are always in demand.
Unfortunately, this would be the last time Munson appeared on a Topps baseball card.
1979 Topps #430 Dave Parker
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $75
1979 Topps #610 Mike Schmidt
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $75
Call Mike Schmidt “Mr. July.”
After hitting just four home runs in the first month of the 1979 season, the Philadelphia Phillies third baseman flipped the power switch with authority.
He hit 11 home runs in May and entered July battling Dave Kingman atop the NL leaderboards with 23.
Schmidt went positively nuclear from there, hammering 12 home runs in 18 games to move ahead of Roger Maris’ record single-season home run pace.
“I don’t think it’s humanly possible to be any better hitter than I’ve been for the last month,” Schmidt said.
The 29-year-old finished July with 13 home runs and 36 altogether.
He would have needed to keep that pace up for two more months to supplant Maris.
As it was, Schmidt suffered a power outage and hit just nine bombs in the final two months of the season.
He finished well behind Maris and three behind Kingman for the NL crown with 45.
1979 Topps #665 Lou Brock
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $75
Lou Brock's 3,000th was the culmination of an all-time great career.
It was also an unfortunate day for one Chicago Cubs pitcher.
Entering the 1979 season as the game's Stolen Base King, the 40-year-old Brock had one last accomplishment to check off his Hall-of-Fame ledger.
The St. Louis Cardinals left fielder was an even 100 hits shy of becoming the 14th member of the 3,000 Hit Club.
In a renaissance season reminiscent of his early 1970s peak, Brock ended the year above .300 (.304) for the eighth time.
The stolen bases weren't as plenty (21), but his bat remained lethal.
Come August 13th, it all added up.
Brock posted two singles to make an even 3,000 and take his place in the Club.
The clincher was a line drive rocket that hammered pitcher Dennis Lamp off the pitching hand.
As the game stopped in celebration of the soon-to-retire Brock, Lamp was lifted from the game in considerable pain.
1979 Topps #308 Bert Blyleven
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $70
Bert Blyleven had a, let's say, complicated year in 1979.
Blyleven was an odd fit for the "We Are Family" Pirates.
Many media members deemed him overrated and only out for himself.
The naysayers only got louder in April and May as Blyleven went winless with a 5.17 ERA in nine starts.
However, he returned to ace form enough to finish 12-5 with a 3.60 ERA in 37 appearances.
Concerned with the "bad rap" he'd received for previous postseason woes, Blyleven responded with a masterpiece in Game 3 of the NLCS.
He shut down the Big Red Machine for good in a complete-game pennant clincher, scattering eight hits and a run in a 7-1 win.
Blyleven also had the biggest relief appearance in franchise history, tossing four scoreless innings and taking the win to stave off elimination in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.
Pittsburgh rallied to win in seven, shutting up Blyleven's critics for at least an offseason.
1979 Topps #95 Robin Yount
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $65
Not once in his career did Robin Yount ever lead the league in runs scored, home runs, RBI or batting average.
However, he did remain healthy and incredibly consistent over his 20 years with the Milwaukee Brewers on his way to twice being named MVP and a franchise favorite.
An offshoot of his enormous quantity of at-bats (11,008), Yount's 3,142 hits and 1,632 runs scored place him among the game's all-time leaders in those categories.
Interestingly, Yount was only named to three All-Star teams over his career, which are among the lowest totals of any player enshrined in Cooperstown.
I love everything about this card from the old Brewers uniform (especially the logo), to the curly hairdo, to the overall bright appearance.
1979 Topps #200 Johnny Bench
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $60
It makes poetic sense that Johnny Bench provided the last spark of life for Cincinnati's Big Red Machine.
The two-time MVP was the heart of the Reds' 1970s revival, leading the franchise to six division titles and two World Series championships.
By 1979, the band was breaking up.
Pete Rose left the team for Philadelphia in the offseason, and beloved manager Sparky Anderson was shockingly fired.
By the end of the '79 season, Joe Morgan and Fred Norman were gone, too.
Bench remained a Red through his 1983 retirement.
He also provided the last big hit for a broken-down Machine.
Winners of the NL West, yet again, the Reds ran into a team of destiny in the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cincy dropped the first two at home in extras before taking the sweep in a 7-1 Game 3 loss.
Bench provided the only run of the game, which was an inconsequential solo shot in the sixth.
It was Bench's final playoff bow and the Reds' last playoff game until 1990.
1979 Topps #358 Alan Trammell
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $60
Alan Trammell didn't steal bases in bunches.
He averaged just under 12 steals a season for 20 years and only hit the 30-steal mark once.
Trammell lacked the pure straight-line speed to join the Lou Brocks and Rickey Hendersons of the world.
Yet, his sixth sense on the field translated into some spectacular moments on the basepaths.
Already making his name as a slick-fielding shortstop in his sophomore campaign, Trammell stole home on July 12th, 1979.
The 21-year-old caught a tell off of righty Dave Heaverlo, breaking for the plate before his motion got started.
Trammell slid in well past the tag, becoming the first Tigers player to swipe home since Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline in 1973.
Trammell made other strides in '79, upping his average (.276) and slugging percentage (.357).
His defensive numbers dipped, and he was still a below-average hitter, yet there was plenty of promise for his All-Star breakout in 1980.
1979 Topps #400 Jim Rice
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $60
The Boston Red Sox had an abundance of outfield riches in 1979, even if it wasn't enough to get them to October.
91-win Boston was the victim of a deep AL East.
They would have won the division by three games if they were in the West.
Their consolation was the terrific trio of Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, and Jim Rice.
The 39-year-old Yaz didn't have his best yet, yet he was still a fan favorite and sentimental pick for his 15th consecutive All-Star Game.
He started alongside Lynn and Rice, making for an all-Boston Midsummer Classic outfield.
Lynn had a better year than even his '75 MVP campaign, winning his only batting title (.333) while leading the league in multiple other offensive categories.
Rice was equally impressive, setting a new bar as the first player with at least 35 home runs (39) and 200 hits (201) in three consecutive campaigns.
Lynn and Rice finished fourth and fifth for AL MVP, respectively.
1979 Topps #640 Eddie Murray
Estimated PSA 9 Mint Value: $60
"Steady Eddie" was the stabilizing force for the Baltimore Orioles' 1979 pennant run.
Positioned in the heart of the O's lineup for a third year, Murray followed up his '77 Rookie of the Year campaign and '78 All-Star nod by slugging Baltimore to its first postseason in five years.
The 23-year-old first baseman slashed .295/.369/.475 with 25 home runs, 30 doubles, 72 walks, 90 runs, a career-best ten stolen bases, and 99 RBIs for the 102-win AL East champs.
He played in all but three of the team's regular-season games, making just six DNPs over three big-league campaigns.
Murray produced 4.9 WAR on the year and posted an OPS+ of 130, the second of nine consecutive seasons that he reached 130 or better.
The Hall-of-Famer kept plugging away in the ALCS, going 5-for-12 with a homer in a four-game ousting of California.
He ran out of steam against the Pirates, though, hitting just .154 in a seven-game loss.
1979 Topps Baseball Cards In Review
So there you have it, the 25 most valuable 1979 Topps baseball cards.
Throughout the 726-card checklist, you'll find lots of color, lots of action, and lots of star power.
And if you can find well-centered examples of these cards that don't have any dings or scratches, you may be looking at some fairly expensive cards.
There's a lot to like within the set, including several different subsets:
- League Leaders (#1 - 8)
- Record Breakers (#201 - 206)
- Season and Career Record Holders (#411 - 418)
- Rookie Prospects (#701 - 726)
While the hobby may consider this a somewhat overlooked set, there's no doubting that it contains lots of history and plenty potential for high-grade cards.