Ranking the Topps Football Cards Sets of the 1980s

Below, I have created a table to reflect 5 qualities in relation to a set that I look for when evaluating a set. I ranked the 10 Topps Football base sets with a score of "10" being the most points and a score of "1" being the fewest points for each category.

Qualities	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89
Set Design	1	2	6	7	10	9	8	5	4	3
Rookies	4	8	7	5	10	6	9	3	2	1
Star Cards	2	3	4	6	7	8	9	10	5	1
Set Condition	4	5	6	7	3	1	2	8	9	10
Photography	1	8	9	4	10	3	2	7	6	5
TOTAL	12	26	32	29	40	27	30	33	26	20

Set Design - How attractive and creative is the design of the set

Rookies - What key rookies are included within the set

Star Cards - What percentage of star (non-rookie) cards are populated within the set.

Set Condition - How easy is the set to find in near-mint to mint shape.

Photography - How attractive is the photography including both posed and action shots.

 

1984 - 40 - Best set of the 1980s by far, led by the treasure-trove of rookies.

1987 - 33 - An under-appreciated set but one of the nicer sets in the 1980s.

1982 - 32 - A 528-card set that packs a lot of punch especially with action shots.

1986 - 30 - Great selection of rookies who went on to the Hall of Fame.

1983 - 29 - 396-card set that has no huge weaknesses and a nice design.

1985 - 27 - Unique design but very condition-sensitive with the black borders.

1981 - 26 - Airbrushed set that undermines its attractiveness to an extent.

1988 - 26 - Soft on impact rookies unfortunately but clean bordered.

1989 - 20 - Not much to say here positive especially since it was 1989 by now.

1980 - 12 - Very weak set in most ways including design and photography.

  

1980 - Unfortunately, the least-creative set of the 1980s

1981 - Introduced action shots into the set as a pleasant change

1982 - Finally, team logos become a part of the set

1983 - A solid set with decent photography

1984 - Most-colorful set of the 1980s

1985 - The famous side-paneled black-bordered set

1986 - The green and white striped border is a unique touch

1987 - A return to white borders which would remain for a decade

1988 - Creativity started to diminish with this set

1989 - Little to say about this set except Topps Traded finally arrived