Topps is celebrating the 75th anniversary of Topps Baseball this year. The first set to be launched in this historic year, Topps Baseball Series 1, is hitting shelves on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
To mark the momentous occasion, this past December, Topps put together a panel of experts made up of league executives, players and historians to vote on the top 75 baseball cards of all time and subsequently break down the top 10 in order. Topps will offer these cards as PSA-graded redemptions throughout 2026 as an insert set called Iconic Topps Buybacks.
Moreover, this list was revealed on Tuesday’s edition of “First Things First.”
10: 2018 Topps Update Baseball Shohei Ohtani
This is the version of him batting, as there’s actually two Ohtani cards in this set: one of him pitching and one of him hitting. Ohtani has five of his cards in the top 75, which is more than any other player.
9: 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson
Henderson’s rookie card, it’s considered one of the most important and valuable base cards from the 1980s — the premier “modern” vintage card, bridging the gap between the 1960s/70s era and the junk-wax era of the 1980s.
8: 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente
Clemente’s rookie has only ever received one PSA 10, which is a perfect grade. It’s a high-numbered card in that 1955 set, which was traditionally produced in lower quantities and released later in the season, making it more scarce than low-numbered cards from the same year.
7: 1986 Topps Barry Bonds
The most famous of his rookie cards, it’s from the Topps Traded set, and there are two versions: the standard base edition and the high-end, limited-edition “Tiffany” version.
6: 1968 Topps Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan “Rookie Stars.”
It’s Nolan Ryan’s only official rookie card — and the only card in the top 10 that features multiple players; the following year, the New York Mets won the 1969 World Series.
5: 2024 Topps Chrome Update Series Baseball Paul Skenes MLB Rookie Debut Patch
2024 Topps Chrome Updates Baseball, MLB Rookie Debut Patch Autographs
This card features the debut patch that Skenes wore in his first MLB game, which was taken off and then inserted into this one-of-one card, which was also autographed. This exact card of the Pittsburgh Pirates star sold in 2025 for $1.1 million on Fanatics Collect.
4: 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson
It’s Robinson’s first Topps-issued rookie card, coming five years after his MLB debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The card — like others in the 1952 set — include a facsimile of his signature. It’s part of the legendary high-number series, which was released in late-1952 and is famously difficult to find as many unsold cases were allegedly dumped into the Atlantic Ocean.
3: 1954 Topps Hank Aaron
Aaron’s rookie card, this is a grail card for many collectors — and there are only two PSA 10s in existence, which would likely exceed $1 million if sold today. These cards are slightly larger than modern standard cards.
2: 1952 Topps Willie Mays
This card is from Mays’ rookie season with the Giants and is the second of three 1952 cards in this top 10. The back of the card mentions that Mays joined the U.S. Army in May 1952, a service that caused him to miss most of the 1952 season — the season this card was published — and all of 1953.
The Most Iconic Card: 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
The most iconic card in the history of the hobby, an SGC 9.5-graded version of this card broke all records in 2022, selling for $12.6 million. There are two versions of this card of the New York Yankees legend: Type 1 and Type 2, with differences being in Mantle’s signature, as well as borders and pixels missing.
