Greg Maddux rookie cards were an afterthought at best when they first appeared on the hobby scene in 1987.
That wasn’t an indictment of Maddux’s talents or even his standing as a prospect — it’s just the reality that RCs of wispy young finesse pitchers faced in the swirling melee of a hobby explosion fueled by a new generation of sluggers.
No, when Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and Will Clark and Ruben Sierra and Barry Bonds and Wally Joyner and seemingly hundreds of other groundbreaking rakers are there in the offing in every wax pack you bust, a control pitcher you’ve never heard of trying to crack the rotation of a losing Chicago Cubs team just won’t light up many young faces.
Heck, even a decade or so later, when Maddux had established himself as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation and appeared headed toward all-timer status, his rookie cards still couldn’t hold a candle to the guys breaking home run records on a daily basis.
Today, though?
Well, today, with a clearer vision of the past and the taint of the so-called Steroid Era, and with Maddux’s legacy as an undoubted all-time great firmly etched in stone (and on a Hall of Fame plaque), it all looks a bit different from a hobby perspective.
Indeed, Maddux’s rookie cards now stand near the top of whatever sets they appear in, from a value perspective, and the only real knock against them is that they didn’t appear everywhere — he had no base cards in the 1987 Topps or Fleer set, for example.
Still, if you have some vision and expand your scope a bit, there are plenty of different Greg Maddux rookie cards to pursue, and they check in at about any price point you could imagine.
What follows, then, is a complete rundown of every Mad Dog rookie card, from the common to the obscure. Unless otherwise noted, values listed are culled from actual selling prices for copies in PSA 9 condition as of September 2022.
Now, let’s dig in to some Greg Maddux rookie cards and see if any of them hint at the Cy Young Awards to come.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listing for the cards being discussed.)
1987 Donruss Greg Maddux Rookie Card (#36)
If you were one of the few collectors who were actually in the market for a Greg Maddux rookie card, then this was the only ticket in town.
Problem was, Donruss – like Fleer – was suddenly hard to come by in the early going in 1987, driving up pack prices right off the bat. Eventually, supplies seemed to make it to most parts of the country, but by then, the “scarcity” perception had stuck and, besides, Mark McGwire was tearing the cover off the ball.
Prices for 1987 Donruss wax packs never really came down, in other words, and certainly not to the level of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. No 40-cent packs for you Maddux chasers!
But, even though Maddux snagged a coveted “Rated Rookie” slot, his Donruss RC didn’t command much if any premium in those early days.
Times have changed, of course, and those 355 career victories and the string of Cy Young Awards and Gold Gloves have positioned this card as a junk wax classic that is as much the face of the set as Big Mac’s own Donruss RC.
Value: $20-25
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1987 Leaf Greg Maddux Rookie Card (#36)
Leaf was the Canadian version of Donruss cards for much of the 1980s, much as O-Pee-Chee was the Canadian parallel to Topps.
In 1987, the Leaf parallel was not direct, as the Great White North set contained only 264 cards, as compared to 660 in the full Donruss set.
Still, Maddux and the rest of the Rated Rookies made the cut on the Leaf checklist, setting up a Maddux RC that’s more scarce than many of the others on this list … including its Donruss counterpart.
That scarcity is reflected in the selling prices.
Value: $90-100
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1987 Fleer Update Greg Maddux Rookie Card (#U-68)
Fleer missed out on issuing a Maddux rookie card in their base 1987 set, but he sort of forced their hand after making 27 starts for the Cubs that summer at the tender age of 21.
The design of 1987 Fleer is sort of a love-it-or-hate-it affair, but this Update card features a nice action shot of young Maddux following through on a pitch in Cubbies pinstripe.
Fleer also issued a glossy version of their 1987 Update set in a tin box and, though, it’s more scarce than its “flat” counterpart, they sell at around the same price level.
Value: $15-20
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1987 Sportflics Team Previews Chicago Cubs Greg Maddux & Rafael Palmeiro (#22)
Like Fleer, Sportflics didn’t include Maddux in their base 1987 set, though they also didn’t have much room, thanks to a checklist that numbered just 200.
Sportflics did expand their lineup in 1987, though, to include a “Team Preview” set of 26 cards – one for each team, each featuring four panels with three dudes in each one thanks to the super-special Magic Motion lenticular technology.
The Cubs card included Maddux, along with Jody Davis, Shawon Dunston, Leon Durham, Dennis Eckersley, Dave Martinez, Keith Moreland, Jerry Mumphrey, Rafael Palmeiro, Ry