1989 Topps Baseball Cards – 14 Most Valuable

If you lived through the baseball card boom and bust, then the term “1989 Topps baseball cards value” might sound like an oxymoron of “enough sleep” proportions.

But the truth is, even the junkiest of junk wax products spits out a sorta gem every now and then — cards that sell for a few bucks online or at shows. Or a decent bit more if they’re slabbed in high grades.

So, with that in mind, here are the 10 most valuable 1989 Topps baseball cards as gauged by eBay sales.

1989 Topps Randy Johnson Rookie Card (#647)

When this card was issued, Montreal Expos hurler Randy Johnson was something of a curiosity. At 6’10”, he was certainly huge, and his fastball scared the crap out of hitters from coast to coast … but he was also wild and unpolished. And, at age 25, he was sorta old to be a prospect. A May 25 trade to the Seattle Mariners changed all that, of course, and Johnson finished 1989 looking like a real pitcher before blossoming into a Hall of Fame lock over the next 20 years.

Johnson’s 1989 Topps rookie card is not scarce by any means, and you can pick up nice raw copies for a few bucks. A PSA 10 copy will cost a bit more — generally still less than $75, though.

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1989 Topps Nolan Ryan (#530)

Nolan Ryan was at the other end of his career from Johnson when he made his last Topps appearance for the Houston Astros in 1989. Of course, it turns out Ryan wasn’t quite done, as he used his five seasons with the Texas Rangers to pick up his 300th victory, 5000th strikeout, and seventh no-hitter to cement his status as an absolute legend. While his 1989 Topps base card fetches about $1 ungraded, it stretches 70 bucks or more in PSA 10.

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1989 Topps Cal Ripken, Jr. (#250)

The Baltimore Orioles were just awful in 1988, finishing 54-107, but their Iron Man, Cal Ripken played every game — as usual. Even Cal’s performance was a bit soft that summer, though, at least by his standards. With a slash line of .264/.372/.431, along with 23 home runs and 81 RBI, Ripken was an All-Star but not the lead-pipe superstar he had been a few years earlier. So when this 1989 Topps card hit store shelves, it was accompanied by whispers that maybe it was time for Cal to sit.

It wasn’t, and Ripken turned on the gas over the next few years to cement his status as a baseball legend, and you can usually pick up this mid-career card for a relative song — ungraded, that is. In PSA 10, expect prices close to $70.

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1989 Topps Mike Schmidt (#100)

Schmidt is the greatest third baseman to ever set foot on a Major League Baseball diamond, and this is his last Topps card, issued just months before his retirement in the spring of 1989.

Little wonder, then, that Schmitty appears on this list, huh?

While not a career-capper, this final Topps card of the Phillies legend still checks in north of $60 in PSA 10 condition.

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1989 Topps Rickey Henderson (#380)

Like Schmidt, Rickey is one of the all-time greats — greatest base stealer, greatest leadoff man, greatest hot dog (though Reggie Jackson might have something to say about that).

Rickey also got on base like a Sabermetrics fiend, way before any of us even knew what that meant.

This great-looking Henderson card shows the Green-and-Gold to good effect in the Oakland sunshine and sells for $60 or so in slabbed GEM MINT condition.

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1989 Topps Jim Abbott Rookie Card (#573)

Abbott inspired by excelling on the baseball diamond despite being born without a right hand and then just simply inspired by excelling on the diamo