How many different Ken Griffey Jr rookie cards do you think there are?
Three, four, ten, a hundred?
Whatever your answer, you just might be right!
See, while the quasi-official answer is “six” (see the PSA Set Registry Rookie Checklist for Griffey), the truth is, there were at least 50 different cards issued featuring the Mariners’ young phenom in 1989. And, given that’s the year his Big Six hit collections across the lands, the rest of those dozens have to count for something … right?
Right.
We’re not going to run through ever one of those first-year Juniors here, but we are going to take on the most important ones, as determined by hobby history and the “weight” assigned to each card in the Griffey Master Set listing from PSA.
So, if you’re ready for some monumental cardboard — cardboard befitting of a hobby Mt. Rushmore — let’s dive into the best of the best among Ken Griffey, Jr., rookie cards!
(Prices as of June 2022, as culled from the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool.)
1989 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards Ken Griffey Jr. (#63)
If you missed out on the old Baseball Cards Magazine, well … you really missed out.
In the late 1980s, BBCM would come up with a theme in January and then issue cards all year long that fit the theme. That usually meant six cards per issue, inserted as two three-card panels in the middle of the magazine.
In 1989, Krause Publications rolled back to a 1959 Topps design for their replicards, and that run included several “rookie stars” cards, Junior among them.
Since these were issued in panels and jammed into the middle of a magazine that got mailed everywhere, the cards aren’t all that easy to find in decent condition.
If you find a Griffey that’s been nicely hand cut and can pull a MINT grade, expect to pay three figures to make it your own. A copy in PSA 10? That’ll run you a cool grand or more — probably a LOT more.
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1989 Bowman Tiffany Ken Griffey Jr. (#220)
The 1989 Bowman baseball cards didn’t quite live up to the excitement we (old collectors) had when Topps announced they were resurrecting their defunct competitor’s brand.
They were oversize, the backs were sort of strange with their team-by-team statistical splits, and there were just too many of them on the market.
But even that initial Bowman set was fairly loaded with rookie cards, including Brady Anderson, Gary Sheffield, John Smoltz, Jerome Walton, Rob Dibble, Chris Sabo, Sandy Alomar (Jr.) … and, naturally, Griffey.
And then, Topps upped the ante by issuing a “Tiffany” version of the set, just like they’d been doing with their base set for half a decade.
Featuring high-grade creamy card stock and a thick, glossy coating, Bowman Tiffany was limited to just 6000 complete sets. That may not sound so “limited” today, but it was like hen’s teeth in the late 1980s, and the Junior RC is the key to the set.
Expect to pay $1200-1500 for a PSA 9 copy, stretching well into five figures for a specimen in PSA 10.
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1989 Fleer Glossy Ken Griffey Jr. (#548)
Griffey made it into three base sets in 1989, and, while neither the Fleer nor Donruss card can hold a candle to the Upper Deck (see below) in terms of historical hobby significance, Fleer followed Topps’ lead by issuing a more limited “glossy” version of their mass-produced main set.
Some hobby estimates put the total print run at around 30,000 complete sets, which again is a ton by today’s standards but miniscule for the original boom years.
And, of course, the Griffey RC leads the whole hit parade in the “desirable card” department.
Today, this is about a $300 card in PSA 9, with the price tag ballooning into the $3500-4000 range for perfect “10”s.
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1989 Topps Traded Ken Griffey Jr. Tiffany (#41T)
Topps somehow missed out on including Junior in their base 1989 set, an oversight which no doubt helped amplify the impact of UD even more.
But leaving out Griffey from the start also eventually led to a pretty great looking 1989 Topps Traded card that has become a classic in its own right.
And, when you add the Tiffany treatment to the thing, with an estimated print run of about 15,000 sets, you get a pretty sweet (and hot/simmering) old hunk of cardboard.
Expect to pay $500 or more for a copy in PSA 9 condition, and onward toward four grand for a PSA 10.
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1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. (#1)
Upper Deck had a perfect read on the market they were entering in 1989. In particular, collectors were clamoring for:
- High-quality photos
- Thick, premium card stock
- Some sort of assurance that the cards they were buying were authentic
- Limited print runs
- Rookies
So, UD took that research and gave us:
- High-quality photos on card fronts and backs
- Thick, premium card stock
- Holograms and “tamper-proof” Mylar packs
- A high price, which seemed to imply limited print runs
- The rookie card of all rookie cards at card #1
Making the Griffey rookie card the first card of the first-ever Upper Deck set virtually guaranteed the company would get off to a rousing start. And, with any cooperation from young Griffey on the field, the card could just become legendary.