The 1989 Topps Kmart Dream Team baseball card set was a unique promotion by Topps and Kmart stores that allowed fans to vote for an all-time dream team of baseball stars from throughout history. The cards featured some of the greatest players to ever step on a baseball field and gave collectors a chance to own cards of legendary players from eras long past, even if they never had a standard trading card issued during their playing days.
In 1989, Topps created ballots that were distributed through Kmart stores that let consumers vote on their choices for the Topps Kmart All-Time Dream Team. The ballots featured over 100 iconic baseball players to choose from, spanning the earliest days of the professional sport in the late 1800s all the way up to iconic stars of the 1980s. Fans voted on their selections for starting lineups and pitching rotations for both the American League and National League dream teams.
Once the fan votes were tallied, Topps produced a 36-card insert set to be included randomly in 1989 Topps wax packs. The cards featured colorful rendering images of the top vote getters at each position as well as some of the leading pitchers. Even though some of these players hung up their spikes decades prior, Topps’ artists were able to put together realistic depictions of what legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson would have looked like in a major league uniform during the late 1980s era.
While the cards did not have any true statistical information since the players were from a wide range of eras, the backs did provide career highlights and accomplishments for each star. Finding a Kmart Dream Team card in a pack was a thrill for collectors, as it allowed them to own a piece of history from baseball’s golden ages. For many younger fans, it was their only opportunity to ever see what iconic figures like Honus Wagner and CY Young looked like in card form.
In subsequent years, the concept became so popular that Topps continued producing Kmart Dream Team sets into the 1990s. The scarcity of only 36 cards in the original 1989 set makes those particularly coveted by collectors today. In top graded gem mint condition, premium examples have sold for over $1,000 due to their historical significance and the challenge of finding such well-preserved 30+ year old cardboard. PSA 10 Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb rookies in particular can sell for $2,000 or more.
Even moderately played near-mint copies still carry value well above average 1989 Topps due to their iconic subjects and status as a truly one-of-a-kind baseball card product. While reprints and reproductions exist, only the original 1989 Kmart Dream Team issues produced by Topps hold legitimate collectible value. For advanced collectors, obtaining a full set with multiples to showcase in displays is a huge challenge. Individual cards also remain quite scarce to find in higher grades due to the fragile nature of the thin cardboard after three decades.
The 1989 Topps Kmart Dream Team cards were a can’t-miss promotion that perfectly blended the opportunity to own pieces of baseball history with the excitement of the modern trading card hobby. By letting fans directly participate in selecting the all-time squads, it created instant nostalgia and interest that resonates to this day. While print runs were small, the cards succeeded in immortalizing legends on cardboard for future generations. Whether purely displaying celebrities of the national pastime or shrewdly investing, the 1989 Kmart cards paved the way for dream team style issues to follow for decades. They remain a unique and captivating part of the hobby’s collectible landscape.
The 1989 Topps Kmart Dream Team baseball card set was a one-of-a-kind tribute to the history of America’s pastime. By combining fan voting with legendary imagery on cardboard, it brought icons of baseball’s early eras to the modern trading card age. Even after 30+ years, examples command premium prices due to their historical significance, limited production run, and spotlighting of some of the true all-time greats to ever play the game. The set marked a pioneering milestone that showed collecting could span generations by honoring those who came before.
