When 1992 Fleer baseball cards first appeared, if felt like they were dropped from hobby heaven.
After all, the 1991 Fleer set was a yellow abomination that caused more sea sickness and eye injuries than a corkscrew plane ride shared with a loose cargo load of Fiskars.
The ’92s, though … glossy fronts, cool color fades, solid photography on front and back. They were fresh and neato and actually sought after for a good part of the season.
Of course …
The years have taught us that 1992 Fleer was overproduced, just like about everything else from the Junk Wax Era, and you can buy most cards for almost nothing when you target raw copies.
But if you’re looking for something a little more stout — say, PSA 9 specimens — then certain cards stack up a little better.
What follows, then, are eleven 1992 Fleer baseball cards that sit at the top of the set in terms of value. None will break the bank, but recent eBay sales figures suggest you can expect to pay $10-15 for each one in PSA 9 condition.
1992 Fleer Jim Thome Rookie Card (#125)
There aren’t many rookie cards on this list, which is one reason the 1992 Fleer set doesn’t hold more sway with collectors today.
And even this Jim Thome card might not really be considered an RC since he appeared in a few 1991 issues, including Upper Deck.
But this is Thome’s first base Fleer issue, and it’s one of the more valuable cards in the set. It can even touch $20 at times.
Not unexpected for a Hall of Famer with 600+ home runs who emerged from the steroid era pretty much unscathed by scandal.
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1992 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. (#279)
Griffey was still busy becoming the superstar everyone thought he’d be when this 1992 Fleer card first hit collectors’ hands.
It would be a few years yet before everything would gel and elevate Junior to a status as a guy with one of the greatest sustained peaks of all-time.
And, even though the decline was steep when Griffey went “home” to Cincinnati, the overall resume still leaves him on the periphery of conversations around “greatest player ever.”
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1992 Fleer Cal Ripken Jr. (#26)
Ripken was pretty much at the pinnacle of his hobby popularity when this card debuted, having just come off an American League MVP season in 1991 (his second).
That stellar performance quieted most critics who charged that Rip was paying too much attention to his consecutive games-played streak at the expense of overall performance — and his Baltimore Orioles teammates.
Of course, Cal would scale even new heights a few years later when he helped the game recover from an ugly player’s strike by breaking Lou Gehrig‘s record of 2130 straight games played in 1995.
A living legend, Ripken will appear in lists like this for just about every set where his card appears.
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1992 Fleer Barry Bonds (#550)
In 1992, Bonds resumed his MVP-winning ways by nabbing his second in three years for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Back then, he was still a slender five-tool dude who honestly didn’t light up the hobby all that much.
Part of that was an already surly attitude.
More of it, though, could be laid at the feet of the middling power numbers he put up. Sure, he was considered by many to be the best all-around player in the game, but 30 homers or so didn’t move the cardboard needle much.
A free agent signing with the San Francicso Giants before the 1993 season changed Bonds’ trajectory completely, though, setting him up for epic home run battles with Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron.
And, of course, for epic battles with all corners of the baseball establishment.
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1992 Fleer Roger Clemens (#37)
The story for Clemens is pretty much the same as that for Bonds, except replace “home runs” with “wins” and “MVP” with “Cy Young.”
As in, Clemens had just just won his third American League Cy Young Award in 1991, en route to a late-career push that would net him four more.
Like Bonds, Clemens ran afoul of the PED smell test, and the concomitant indignant public outrage that followed, on his way to becoming one of the best handful of pitchers ever.
Whether either man ever makes the Cooperstwon cut or not, both will almost always appear on these sorts of “most valuable” lists.
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