Out of the thousands of players that put on a baseball uniform in the 80's, to me, no player embodied that decade he played in more than Orioles 1st baseman Eddie Murray. The 8-time All-Star played the whole decade besides the 1989 season for the Orioles before leaving for the Dodgers. His powerful bat and excellent fielding are what made him a multi-tool threat to his opponents throughout his 21-year career.
I have 52 cards of Eddie Murray dating from 1981-2017. Here are my 5 personal favorites.
#5 1984 Donruss Diamond Kings
While many cards in the 80's had the ability to grab your attention, few did it in the way that Donruss' Diamond Kings cards did it. The bright colors and banners on this card immediately catch your eye and force you to look at the card more closely, where you discover what's so great about it. The 2 perspectives of Murray are standard in Diamond Kings, but the red, white, and purple colored banners around the card are my favorite feature. It usually would be blue instead of purple, so I'm glad Donruss stepped outside the box for this card. The yellow background is okay but doesn't go with the color scheme. With that being said, this card still depicts the 80's and Murray very well which is why it made the list.
#4 1989 Fleer
The grey borders of the 1989 Fleer set not only make it one of my favorite Fleer base set designs but allow it to pair up well with certain colors to create stunning cards. One of those colors is blue, the color of the Dodgers who Murray joined for the 1989 season, his first year with a team other than Baltimore. And while his 1989 could be labeled as a disaster, hitting just .247 with only 20 home runs, we still have his 1989 Fleer card to remind many a Dodger fan of the exciting time when he joined the team. And not only were the borders great, but the photo of Murray, especially with the sunglasses on just adds another great factor to my 4th favorite card of him.
#3 2002 Fleer Fall Classic
I remember this being one of the first cards I ever got of Eddie Murray, which is probably the main reason why I put it so high on the list. The border color is one that I haven't ever really seen in any other set before. The greyish-brown color is actually a color I like a lot, which also goes well with the faded Orioles dugout in the background. However, my favorite part of this card is the nearly perfect image captured for this fabulous set. The picture is so great as it shows Murray at the plate right before taking a swing. I know that at first, the card can seem a bit boring, but I believe if you examine it a bit further, it is truly a beautiful card. Plus, I'm slightly nostalgic for it, so I had to put it on the list.
#2 2005 Donruss Classics Legendary Lumberjacks
It was a very close race between this card and the #1 card on the list and as you can see this one narrowly missed out on the #1 spot. However, that does not diminish the job Donruss did in making one of my favorite cards in my whole collection. The insert is called Legendary Lumberjacks, and therefore a lot of the card is brown to commemorate the lumber used by Murray. This excellent insert idea was beautifully executed and thus, a stunning card was created. The card also has a little pop of bright orange on Murray's jersey which could be seen as unnecessary, but I think it adds a great detail to the card. Not to mention, the card is numbered 122/400, yet another reason why this card made it to #2.
#1 1996 Fleer Ultra Call to the Hall
Yes, I surprised myself, along with most of you probably, by me putting a card of Murray on the Indians at #1. Still, with a beautiful set of Gallery fresh in my mind, and with this card resembling Gallery a candidate for the #1 spot, I had to put it at the top of the list. The image is absolutely beautiful with just about everything you need or want in a card like this. There's a great attention to detail for everything, even down to the dugout. The choice to have him shown as an Indian rather than a possible tribute to his days as an Oriole, where he had his best years surprised me, but I support the decision. Murray's facial expressions, immaculate drawing of the jersey, even the way he's holding onto the bat were just a few of the many details included on this card. Fleer didn't have to do all of this, but they did. That, to me, is a card worthy of the #1 spot.
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