1979-80 Topps Hockey Cards
Product Details
In many ways, the 1979-80 Topps Hockey set represents a changing of the guard in the NHL. While it contains the 264 cards its predecessors had, it departed from the standard white-bordered design of recent sets. While the set is best known for having the first card of one of hockey's greatest players, it is also the set that marked the final appearance of many hockey legends, some of which were active during the 1950s.
The player photos on the fronts are either posed or game-action shots. A team logo appears in the bottom right, which is surrounded by a solid-colored banner that runs up the right side and opens up above the photo to include the team name. The player's name and position appear above the team name. The card is surrounded by a blue border.
1979-80 Topps Hockey card backs feature a design that looks like a skate. In the upper right but outside of the skate is a cartoon about the player. The card number is in the upper left, and the player's vital stats appear in the top area of the skate. A shortened year/life statistic line appears in the middle, followed by a short sentence. The player's name, team and position appear in the skate's blade area at the bottom.
All-Star players have a banner added along the bottom of their base cards to signify the honor. The first eight cards of the set feature the NHL's leaders in various categories from the previous season. Cards 81 through 83 recap the most recent semi-finals and Stanley Cup finals, and record breakers are honored on cards 161 through 165. Team cards run from cards 244 through 261, including one that shows the four teams that were absorbed from the WHL.
Those four new teams are the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winninpeg Jets, and this is the first set to feature those teams. One card was printed in error and had to be corrected. Card number 8 can be found with Mike Palmateer and Mario Lessard's pictures reversed and is more valuable than the corrected version. Several retiring stars are featured for the last time in 1979-80 Topps Hockey. These include Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Ken Dryden.
The key card in the set is the rookie card of Wayne Gretzky, which accounts for a large chunk of the entire set's value. Other notable 1979-80 Topps Hockey rookie cards feature Ken Linseman, Bobby Smith, Charlie Simmer and John Tonelli.
Key 1979-80 Topps Hockey Cards:
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Set Checklist
1979-80 Topps Hockey Cards Set Checklist
2 Bob MacMillan Assist Leaders
3 Guy Lafleur Scoring Leaders
4 Dave Schultz Penalty Minute Leaders
5 Paul Gardner Power Play Goal Leaders
6 Bernie Parent Goal Against Avg. Leaders
7 Ted Bulley Game Winning Goal Leaders
8 Bernie Parent Shutout Leaders
9 Greg Malone
10 Rick Middleton
11 Greg Smith
12 Rene Robert
13 Doug Risebrough
14 Bob Kelly
15 Walt Tkaczuk
16 John Marks
17 Willie Huber RC
18 Wayne Gretzky RC
19 Ron Sedlbauer
20 Glenn "Chico" Resch Second Team All-Star
21 Blair Chapman
22 Ron Zanussi
23 Brad Park
24 Yvon Lambert
25 Andre Savard
26 Jim Watson
27 Harold Phillipoff RC
28 Dan Bouchard
29 Bob Sirois
30 Ulf Nilsson
31 Mike Murphy
32 Stefan Persson
33 Garry Unger
34 Rejean Houle
35 Barry Beck
36 Tim Young
37 Rick Dudley
38 Wayne Stephenson
39 Peter McNab
40 Borje Salming Second Team All-Star
41 Tom Lysiak
42 Don Maloney RC
43 Mike Rogers
44 Dave Lewis
45 Peter Lee
46 Marty Howe
47 Serge Bernier
48 Paul Woods
49 Bob Sauve
50 Larry Robinson First Team All-Star
51 Tom Gorence RC
52 Gary Sargent
53 Thomas Gradin RC
54 Dean Talafous
55 Bob Murray
56 Bob Bourne
57 Larry Patey
58 Ross Lonsberry
59 Rick Smith
60 Guy Chouinard
61 Danny Gare
62 Jim Bedard
63 Dale McCourt
64 Steve Payne RC
65 Pat Hughes RC
66 Mike McEwen
67 Reg Kerr RC
68 Walt McKechnie
69 Michel Plasse
70 Denis Potvin First Team All-Star
71 Dave Dryden
72 Gary McAdam
73 Andre St. Laurent
74 Jerry Korab
75 Rick MacLeish
76 Dennis Kearns
77 Jean Pronovost
78 Ron Greschner
79 Wayne Cashman
80 Tony Esposito
81 Winnipeg Jets Team Checklist
82 Edmonton Oilers Team Checklist
83 Canadiens over Rangers Stanley Cup
84 Brian Sutter
85 Gerry Cheevers
86 Pat Hickey
87 Mike Kaszycki
88 Grant Mulvey
89 Derek Smith
90 Steve Shutt
91 Robert Picard
92 Dan Labraaten
93 Glen Sharpley
94 Denis Herron
95 Reggie Leach
96 John Van Boxmeer
97 Dave "Tiger" Williams
98 Robert "Butch" Goring
99 Don Marcotte
100 Bryan Trottier First Team All-Star
101 Serge Savard Second Team All-Star
102 Cliff Koroll
103 Gary Smith
104 Al MacAdam
105 Don Edwards
106 Errol Thompson
107 Andre Lacroix
108 Marc Tardif
109 Rick Kehoe
110 John Davidson
111 Behn Wilson RC
112 Doug Jarvis
113 Tom Rowe RC
114 Mike Milbury
115 Billy Harris
116 Greg Fox RC
117 Curt Fraser RC
118 Jean-Paul Parise
119 Ric Seiling
120 Darryl Sittler
121 Rick Lapointe
122 Jim Rutherford
123 Mario Tremblay
124 Randy Carlyle
125 Bobby Clarke
126 Wayne Thomas
127 Ivan Boldirev
128 Ted Bulley
129 Dick Redmond
130 Clark Gillies First Team All-Star
131 Checklist
132 Vaclav Nedomansky
134 Dave Schultz
135 Guy Lapointe
136 Gilles Meloche
137 Randy Pierce RC
138 Cam Connor
139 George Ferguson
140 Bill Barber Second Team All-Star
141 Terry Ruskowski
142 Wayne Babych RC
143 Phil Russell
144 Bobby Schmautz
145 Carol Vadnais
146 John Tonelli RC
147 Peter Marsh RC
148 Thommie Bergman
149 Rick Martin
150 Ken Dryden First Team All-Star
151 Kris Manery
152 Guy Charron
153 Lanny McDonald
154 Ron Stackhouse
155 Stan Mikita
156 Paul Holmgren
157 Perry Miller
158 Gary Croteau
159 Dave Maloney
160 Marcel Dionne Second Team All-Star
161 Mike Bossy Record Breaker
162 Don Maloney Record Breaker
163 Hartford Whalers Team Checklist
164 Brad Park Record Breaker
165 Bryan Trottier Record Breaker
166 Al Hill RC
167 Gary Bromley
168 Don Murdoch
169 Wayne Merrick
170 Bob Gainey
171 Jim Schoenfeld
172 Gregg Sheppard
173 Dan Bolduc RC
174 Blake Dunlop
175 Gordie Howe
176 Richard Brodeur
177 Tom Younghans
178 Andre Dupont
179 Ed Johnstone RC
180 Gilbert Perreault
181 Bob Lorimer RC
182 John Wensink
183 Lee Fogolin
184 Greg Carroll RC
185 Bobby Hull
186 Harold Snepsts
187 Pete Mahovlich
188 Eric Vail
189 Phil Myre
190 Wilf Paiement
191 Charlie Simmer RC
192 Per-Olov Brasar
193 Lorne Henning
194 Don Luce
195 Steve Vickers
196 Bob Miller RC
197 Mike Palmateer
198 Nick Libett
199 Pat Ribble RC
200 Guy Lafleur First Team All-Star
201 Mel Bridgman
202 Morris Lukowich RC
203 Don Lever
204 Tom Bladon
205 Garry Howatt
206 Bobby Smith RC
207 Craig Ramsay
208 Ron Duguay
209 Gilles Gilbert
210 Bob MacMillan
211 Pierre Mondou
212 J.P. Bordeleau
213 Reed Larson
214 Dennis Ververgaert
215 Bernie Federko
216 Mark Howe
217 Bob Nystrom
218 Orest Kindrachuk
219 Mike Fidler
220 Phil Esposito
221 Bill Hajt
222 Mark Napier
223 Dennis Maruk
224 Dennis Polonich
225 Jean Ratelle
226 Bob Dailey
227 Alain Daigle
228 Ian Turnbull
229 Jack Valiquette
230 Mike Bossy Second Team All-Star
231 Brad Maxwell
232 Dave Taylor
233 Pierre Larouche
234 Rod Schutt RC
235 Rogatien Vachon
236 Ryan Walter RC
237 Checklist
238 Terry O'Reilly
239 Real Cloutier
240 Anders Hedberg
241 Ken Linseman RC
242 Billy Smith
243 Rick Chartraw
244 Atlanta Flames Team Checklist
245 Boston Bruins Team Checklist
246 Buffalo Sabres Team Checklist
247 Blackhawks Team Checklist
248 Rockies Team Checklist
249 Red Wings Team Checklist
250 Kings Team Checklist
251 North Stars Team Checklis
252 Canadiens Team Checklist
253 Islanders Team Checklist
254 Rangers Team Checklist
255 Flyers Team Checklist
256 Penguins Team Checklist
257 Blues Team Checklist
258 Maple Leafs Team Checklist
259 Canucks Team Checklist
260 Capitals Team Checklist
261 Nordiques Team Checklist
262 Jean Hamel
263 Stan Jonathan
264 Russ Anderson
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Phil Chmiel
The design is nice but the photos are not very appealing. These are mostly game action shots with somewhat of a “long distance” view of the player. Gretzky rookie saves this set.