89 Upper Deck Griffeys- Economists?

[Julz24]

I know a guy at work who does not collect baseball cards. But he does have an 89 Upper Deck Griffey that he won't soon part with. My buddy grew up in San Bernardino, and as a kid in the late 1980's his Dad took him to see the Spirit play every Thirsty Thursday. He saw Griffey play at least a dozen games and fell in love with "The Kid" back when he really was just a kid.

When I first told him I was a baseball card collector and my favorite player was Junior, he immediately told me about his UD rookie card. I guess his Mom still has the card at her house and he is hoping to get it and bring it home to his apartment before something happens to it. I asked him what other Griffey cards he has and he said none, just the Upper Deck rookie card.

That card really is the defining baseball card of the modern collecting generation. It might not be the golden ticket that we all thought it would be - but its still an OG rookie card of a future HOF. It's one of the few modern cards known by non-collectors, and it played a key part in changing the hobby forever. I've even got a few copies myself...

[Rich Klein]

#1 card in a key set from an era where everyone collected. Everyone wanted that card, great picture, etc. 1989 Upper Deck WAS the set in 1989 and even though today there are plenty that was real hot then thus everyone wanted that card.

Hey, if you are patient you will find that card at your price, but it is the 1980's version of the most iconic card. If Don Mattingly had ended up with an HOF career the 1984 Donruss card would be right up there with the Griffey. Certain cards just have an aura about them and those are two of them.

Rich

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Hey, if you are patient you will find that card at your price, but it is the 1980's version of the most iconic card. If Don Mattingly had ended up with an HOF career the 1984 Donruss card would be right up there with the Griffey. Certain cards just have an aura about them and those are two of them.

Rich

There's a few like that. If it weren't for controversies, steroids, injury and other assorted downfalls. Griffey, despite his injury issues, seems to be the last man standing from the 80's, well he rickey and cal(in terms of iconic, or once iconic, cards that somewhat held their ground).

Off the top of my head, these are probably the only ones that I would've considered Iconic a one point or another.

1980 Topps Hendeson
1982 Topps Traded Ripken
1983 Topps Traded Strawberry
1984 Donruss Mattingly(The Joe Carter is still a favorite, but I don't think ever reached iconic status at it's peak)
1984 Fleer Update Clemens and Gooden(note:I never considered the pucket card iconic, I think a lot of his value is attached to the set I'm also not 100% positive that the gooden was ever really iconic.)
1985 Topps McGwire
1986 Donruss Canseco
1987 Fleer Bonds(1986 issues possibly)
1987 Classic Green Bo Jackson
1989 UD Griffey

I agree that the Griffey was probably the only one to be popular even outside the hobby. Possibly the McGwire.

The 90's had a smaller bunch
1990 Leaf Thomas and Sosa
1991 Desert Shield Chipper(despite the scarcity of the set carrying most of the value)
not sure, but I think the 1992 traded Garciaparra was once a HUGE card.
1992 Bowman Ramirez, probably Rivera too.
1992 Fleer Update Piazza
1993 SP Jeter
1994 SP A Rod
1995 Bowman's best Vlad(Possibly Andruw Jones)

there were a few others that probably got close, or could've, but by the time the players peaked, the card market was already in a downfall. I don't think the current state of the hobby will ever again accomodate another "standard" card reaching iconic status.

Honestly, since '95, I don't think there's been many "iconic" type standard cards produced, with exception of maybe the '01 Bowman Chrome Pujols. but even that has the insert type stigma, being autographed and a refractor.

[WillBBC]

Vlad had a run in the early 2000s that carried his 95 Bowman's Best rookie to Griffey like numbers. Raw mint copies were pulling upwards of $150 with 10s selling for upwards of a thousand. The Refractors were pulling ridiculous amounts of money regardless of centering or print lines.

You can get slabbed gems for about 65 bucks now. It's crazy. I remember selling a PSA 9 Bowman (not even Bowman's Best) for 200 way back when. It's hard to believe how inexpensive they are now.

Now the Bowman's Best rookie is about 10 bucks raw with Refractors still getting decent coin but nowhere near where they were a decade ago.

I think the only truly iconic card of the 90s, 20-30 years from now, will be the '93 SP Jeter rookie. ARod's already taken such a huge dip and Rivera--despite all his greatness--his cards didn't really pull much of anything until the last few years. I'm really, really curious as to what they'll sell for a few years from now.

Who knows. Different generations buy and collect different things so...we'll see what happens.

[buymycards]

Remember when you could get $80 for a PSA 8 Griffey? I once got $70 for a PSA 8 McGwire RC.

Rick

[Rich Klein]

I was in a friends store in NJ while visiting my dad and he sold 3 Big Mac 85T RC's for $300 each while I was there. And that was not a show off for the Beckett guy, those were real sales as I asked the people why they were buying those cards.

[RobertGT]

There may be 45K in PSA 8 or better in existence, but how many of those are available to buy at any one time, and how many of those are forever buried in personal collections? I just did an ebay search for "1989 upper deck #1 griffey psa" and I got 94 hits.

As has been stated, Griffey is still extremely popular (one of the few with no PED black marks) and very collectible, so think of the thousands and thousands of Griffey fans vs. 94 hits on eBay. It's easy to see why his RC still commands $20.

To me, $20 is nothing to pay for one of the hobby's classic modern cards, even if there are a ton of them out there.

[Matthew80]

Originally Posted by RobertGT

There may be 45K in PSA 8 or better in existence, but how many of those are available to buy at any one time, and how many of those are forever buried in personal collections? I just did an ebay search for "1989 upper deck #1 griffey psa" and I got 94 hits.

As has been stated, Griffey is still extremely popular (one of the few with no PED black marks) and very collectible, so think of the thousands and thousands of Griffey fans vs. 94 hits on eBay. It's easy to see why his RC still commands $20.

To me, $20 is nothing to pay for one of the hobby's classic modern cards, even if there are a ton of them out there.

Good point.

Incidentally, $20 isn't too much for me.