Fred McGriff baseball cards made a slow and steady trek to hobby stardom, much as the man himself plodded away at an All-Star level year after year.
Indeed, Crime Dog hardly ever made jaws drop with his raw numbers — though he did uncork a few moonshots — but when you looked up at the end of the year, he always had his 30 home runs and 100 RBI.
Every time he did, his baseball cards picked up a bit more collector intereste and accrued a few more bits of monetary value.
And when we looked up at the end of his career?
Well, McGriff was within spitting distance of both 500 home runs and 2500 hits, and he had sailed past 1500 RBI.
Likewise, McGriff’s rookie cards had risen into the upper echelon of the sets they appeared in, and all the hundreds of other of McGriff’s cards had plenty of admirers.
Then, in the glare of the gaudy numbers from the so-called Steroid Era, McGriff’s Hall of Fame candidacy sputtered, and he eventually fell off the ballot.
In the meantime, though, the shine turned to sh– … well, to something else — for the PED guys, and the groundswell to get McGriff into Cooperstown grew by the year.
So did his card prices, even if modestly.
Today, Crime Dog and his baseball cards have millions of ardent fans spanning all generations and geographical distributions, and all the Hall talk of recent years promises to keep his cardboard simmering along for decades to come.
What follows, then, is a rundown of the 19 best Fred McGriff baseball cards, where “best” is somewhat subjective but is generally comprised of a concoction of card values, the general hobby import of the issue, and pure aesthetics.
Unless otherwise noted, values cited are based on recent selling prices for PSA 10 copies of the cards being discussed.
Batter up!
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed.)
1986 Donruss Fred McGriff Rated Rookie (#28)
This is the only true Crime Dog rookie card distributed in the United States (there was a Leaf parallel in Canada), and it’s easily the most recognizable and popular of all Fred McGriff baseball cards.
Though it has lagged behind other 1986 Donruss rookie cards at various points in its existence, this Rated Rookie is a classic that today matches up to the best the set has to offer. It’s even encroaching into Jose Canseco territory pricewise.
And McGriff never even had to hit a home run with his head to make that happen!
Value: $325-350
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1987 Topps Traded Fred McGriff (#74T)
It took a year-and-a-half after Donruss broke the Crime Dog card seal for Topps to jump in on McGriff, as The Real One eschewed the young first baseman in their 1986 and 1987 base sets, as well as their 1986 Traded issue.
After McGriff popped 20 home runs as a rookie during the summer of 1987, though, he finally made his woodgrain debut that fall on this 1987 Topps Traded number. The consolation for the long wait is that this one is arguably the most interesting of all Fred McGriff baseball cards issued before or during (or shortly after) his rookie season.
Note that there is a more scarce Tiffany version of this card that generally fetches a multiple of 3-4X the price for the base Traded version.
Value: $40-45
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1988 Fleer Fred McGriff (#118)
We had to get a Fleer card on our McGriff rundown at some point, right?
And, since Topps occupied our “Best Fred McGriff Baseball Card of 1987” slot, this card is a decent proxy.
To wit, if you move your head back and forth real fast between McGriff’s 1987 Fleer Update and 1988 Fleer cards, you’ll get a pretty cool stop-motion Crime Dog effect.
And probably a headache (you’ve been warned).
Point is, the photos are nearly identical, so this 1988 Fleer gives you the essence of McGriff’s first Fleer card (1987 Update), with the added “bonus” of those Little Debbie Snack Cake borders.
(There is a glossy version of this card that doesn’t outpace the base version by much, if any, in terms of value.)
Value: $10-20
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1989 Upper Deck Fred McGriff (#671)
Like every other star, and most players in general, McGriff had a pretty nifty looking base card in the inaugural (1989) Upper Deck issue.
That one checked in at #572 and features the customary strong photography and minimal design that early UD issues were known for.
This card, on the other hand, is one of 26 team checklists that feature the artwork of Vernon Wells, Sr., which both gives us a different (painted) look at a still-young McGriff and reminds us of the big-division days before the latest rounds of expansion.
Value: $5-10
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1990 Leaf Fred McGriff (#132)
Much as Upper Deck had done in 1989, Donruss lit up the hobby in 1990 with their own innovation.
No, not those crime-scene-in-wax red-bordered 1990 Donruss menaces.
I’m talking about the 1990 Leaf set, wherein Donruss became the first existing manufacturer to pick up the premium-card gauntlet that UD threw down.
By creating an elegant and very limited (at least by the standards of the day) set chock full of superstar and rookie cards, Donruss positioned Leaf as THE hot chase item of the year.
And collectors chased it all the way into triple-digit box prices almost out of the gate.
Along the way, many of us uncovered this cool, subdued, but classy shot of McGriff going about his business in the batter’s box for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Value: $40-45
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1991 Stadium Club Fred McGriff (#357)
By 1991, McGriff was with the San Diego Padres, dealt along with Tony Fernandez in the 1990-91 offseason in exchange for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter.
In what amounted to a challenge trade, the Blue Jays brought in a couple big pieces who would figure prominently in their World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.
The Pads, meanwhile, got an All-Star middle infielder and a primetime slugger in McGriff would continue his excellence in the National League. Indeed, Crime Dog topped 100 RBI for the first time that summer, and he won his second home run title while playing in the San Diego sunshine in 1992.
For their part, Topps jumped head-first int