Nice Pair: 2005 Upper Deck Reflections

Apparently this is the year I wrap up all the complicated checklists because I’ve been tackling every set that ever gave me a headache one after the other. In that vein, it’s time to talk about 2005 Upper Deck Reflections, one of the toughest Griffey checklists ever made with a minimum NINE 1/1’s. I say “minimum” because even after all my research on this monster set, I still don’t know for sure. Frankly there are probably more.

The premise here is in the title, “Reflections,” which held two meanings here. For one thing all the cards were printed on foil board, so they’re all super reflect-y. The other meaning comes from the plethora of dual autograph cards to be had. Upper Deck put together some real monster pairings for this set. Jeter & Mattingly, Bench & Piazza, Brett & Molitor, Sandberg & Boggs, Nolan Ryan & Randy Johnson – honestly there are too many amazing pairs to list here.

My second-favorite pairing in the set

The catch is that for every great pairing there are many more that are not so great. With such a massive checklist of signatures, UD had to enlist the pens of a lot of rookies and mid-level guys to fill it out. Currently there are several dual autos from this set on COMC listed for less than two bucks, and a whole lot for in the $5-$10 range.

This set shows off both the power and the dispensability of the sticker auto.

The result is a set that contains a few real gems and an astounding number of shiny, serial-numbered, dual-auto “meh” cards. I even bought a few dual auto's off COMC for a little over a buck just because I could.

But who cares about those when there are Griffeys to be had?

2005 Upper Deck Reflections #28

The base cards are nice enough and come in an array of colors, the most common of which is this gold version. The entire base set and most of the inserts are vertically-oriented while all the autos and relics are horizontal. I’m willing to bet there are a few box breakers out there who went pack-by-pack, pulling out all the horizontal cards and disregarded the rest. Rascally hit-chasers…

For some reason I haven’t come across many of the numbered parallels, but I’m mildly interested in finding at least a few of them just for the colorful binder page they would make. I mean....

2005 Upper Deck Reflections #28 Rainbow

Somebody built this thing, and it sits on eBay for $2500 OBO as I write this. This is some sweet, sweet binderporn just waiting to happen.

2005 Upper Deck Reflections #28 Platinum 1/1

Phew. Okay, on to the hits:

2005 Upper Deck Reflections Fabric Reflections
Jersey Relic #FR-KG

We'll start slow with a simple, straight-up piece of pants. No bells or whistles here. Not even a slew of wacky colored parallels. Just some pants, baby. Grey-ass pants.

2005 Upper Deck Reflections Fabric Reflections
Patch Relic #FRP-KG #/99

Junior also got a patch version of the Fabric Reflections card which, honestly, doesn’t seem like it belongs in 2005 Reflections. Apart from being shiny and having the word “Reflections” shoe-horned into the insert title, isn’t this set supposed to be about dual autos and relics? Please don’t take this as me complaining – I have few patch relics and appreciate the hell out of every one I can get. This one is still weird to me.

There is also a #/50 auto version of this one, but again it's...ugh...solo Griffey. Don't waste my time.

Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG2
Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)

All of the dual relic cards used this same basic design and landed one per box. This one is special because even though it’s 2005 we get to see both Griffeys in Mariner blue. The card looks kind of funny being that it's the red parallel and they used Cincy relics, but that’s all part of the fun.

Just like with the autographs, while there are a lot of great pairings in this set, I think the Junior/Senior is far and away the coolest. I liked it so much I bought another while putting together this very post:

Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG1
Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)

And here they are as Reds. This explains a lot, too. Now we can see the GG1 dual-thingies have them as Reds, and the GG2's are Mariners.

See? That’s my favorite thing about 2005 Reflections: it filled the noticeable void of Junior/Senior auto and relic cards - and it even gave us options as to what team we wanted to see them on. This is a concept I might have pitched myself.

And it gets better:

2005 Upper Deck Reflections Dual Signature Reflections 
Autograph #KGKG (w/ Ken, Sr.)

Here is the dual auto design which was the same regardless of the pairing – these also fell one per box. Call me biased, but I think this is one of the greatest auto issues of all time. Sure, they’re sticker autos but the design is great as is the choice of photos, like history repeating itself. The only thing that could make this card better is if it was done up in Cincinnati red.

2005 Upper Deck Reflections Dual Signature Reflections 
Autograph #KGKG Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)

Oh, hell yeah. I’ll admit it that while I normally don’t pay much mind to slightly rarer, differently-colored parallels of already-autographed cards, the color is what got me here. The price was right, too. I bought this thing knowing full-well that I already had the regular issue at home. An absolutely shameless move by yours truly…

Quick question, though: how did the autos here get an 8 from BGS? My other one got a 10. Did Upper Deck ever issue fake autographs? Is Junior's that sloppy? Something is fishy here.

Hmmmm. Okay, fine. 8 it is.

It wasn’t until 2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection that we would see another dual-Griffey (and you better believe I have that one, too). Frankly we are overdue for more.

That was all the Griffeys I have for 2005 Reflections which means we are at the part of the post where I list all the remaining Griffeys of the set in question. Well, I’m sorry to say that coming up with a complete Griffey checklist for this monumental set has been a pain-and-a-half and the primary reason this post has sat incomplete in the wings of my Blogger dashboard for so long (like literally half a decade. Seriously). My go-to online checklists are incomplete, so I’ve had to cobble together what I could from examples I’ve found elsewhere online. Here is the most accurate checklist I could muster with the Griffeys I have in bold:

#28
#28 Purple #/99
#28 Red #/99
#28 Blue #/75
#28 Turquoise #/50
#28 Emerald #/25
#28 Platinum 1/1
Super Swatch #SS-KG #/50
Super Swatch #SS-KG Red #/25
Super Swatch #SS-KG Blue #/10
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-BG #/225 (w/ Carlos Beltran)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-BG Red #/99 (w/ Carlos Beltran)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-BG Blue #/25 (w/ Carlos Beltran)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-BG Platinum 1/1 (w/ Carlos Beltran)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-DG #/225 (w/ Adam Dunn)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-DG Red #/99 (w/ Adam Dunn)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-DG Blue #/25 (w/ Adam Dunn)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-DG Platinum 1/1 (w/ Adam Dunn)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG1 #/225 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG1 Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG1 Blue #/25 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG1 Platinum 1/1 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG2 #/225 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG2 Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG2 Blue #/25 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC-GG2 Platinum 1/1 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC- #/225 (w/ Sammy Sosa)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC- Red #/99 (w/ Sammy Sosa)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC- Blue #/25 (w/ Sammy Sosa)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Jersey Relic #CC- Platinum 1/1 (w/ Sammy Sosa)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Relic #CCP-DG #/99 (w/ Adam Dunn)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Relic #CCP-CG(?) #/99 (w/ Miguel Cabrera)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Relic #CCP-GG1 #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Relic #CCP-GG2 #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Autograph #GG1 #/25 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Cut From the Same Cloth Dual Patch Autograph #GG2 #/25 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #BWKG (w/ Billy Williams)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #BWKG Red #/99 (w/ Billy Williams)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #BWKG Blue #/35 (w/ Billy Williams)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #BWKG Platinum 1/1 (w/ Billy Williams)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGKG (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGKG Red #/99 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGKG Blue #/35 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGKG Platinum 1/1 (w/ Ken, Sr.)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGMC (w/ Miguel Cabrera)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGMC Red #/99 (w/ Miguel Cabrera)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGMC Blue #/35 (w/ Miguel Cabrera)
Dual Signatures Dual Autograph #KGMC Platinum 1/1 (w/ Miguel Cabrera)
Fabric Reflections Jersey #FR-KG
Fabric Reflections Patch Autograph #FRP-KG #/50
Fabric Reflections Patch #FRP-KG #/99

I’m pretty certain there are a few Griffeys missing from this list, but which ones? And there are also a few spots where I don’t have complete card numbers. Any corrections you may have are welcome in the comments of this post. Don’t be shy. We're in this together.

As for all those other Griffeys, yes, I totally want them. The numerous colored parallels don’t provide a lot of value over their less-rare, unnumbered counterparts which is a help. Except in the case of those Platinums. I'm just going to ignore those altogether.

The Griffeys of 1994 Signature Rookies EXPLAINED

While the topics of my posts are sometimes sets I pick totally at random and other times based on particularly difficult or proud acquisitions, there are also rare instances when my hand is forced. That is the case with 1994 Signature Rookies, a strange set with a lot of conflicting information to be found online.

You see, back when I was building the 1996 Beckett Ken Griffey, Jr. Tribute checklist, two of the last seven cards I needed were from 1994 Signature Rookies. For many months they evaded me, and after hours of research I finally figured out why. Here is the part that caused all the trouble, word-for-word, exactly as it appears in the Beckett Tribute checklist:

1994 Signature Rookies Flip Cards Signatures #AU2 w/ Craig signed 1,000
1994 Signature Rookies Flip Cards Signatures #AU5 w/ Craig; Ken signed 500
1994 Signature Rookies Flip Cards Signatures #AU4 w/ Ken Griffey, Sr. signed 1000
1994 Signature Rookies Flip Cards Signatures #AU6 w/ Ken Sr.; Ken Jr. signed 500

Looks like there could be a few dual autograph cards on this list, right? Turns out that was never the case. Being that I love a good boring mystery and have gotten pretty good at researching Griffey cards, I have compiled what I hope is every bit of information needed to confidently put this set to rest. Some questions still remains unanswered, but it’s hardly a deal-breaker for your run-of-the-mill Griffey completionist. Here is everything I know about the Griffeys of 1994 Signature Rookies.

1994 Signature Rookies was an unlicensed minor league product that had a big ol’ boner for Cliff Floyd despite also having a young Derek Jeter in the base set. It included an autograph in every pack which was pretty significant at the time. Several thousand Derek Jeter autographs were introduced into the market through this set, and to this day the Jeter autos regularly sell in the $200-$300 range. Of course there were no Griffeys in 1994 Signature Rookies.

Heh. "Booty"

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks, on the other hand, is a completely different set and the one with the Griffeys. It included an insert called “Flip Cards” made up of two-sided cards featuring pairings like Nolan and Reid Ryan, Phil Nevin and Paul Wilson, and the three Griffey men, Senior, Junior, and Craig. Each Griffey has two Flip Cards, one with each other Griffey. These were limited to 15,000 unnumbered copies each. In addition to being unnumbered, the cards don’t have numbers – to anyone but a card collector that sentence probably sounds pretty stupid.

That makes the complete Flip Cards insert checklist look like this (I put the Junior cards in bold for our purposes):

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Craig Griffey / Ken Griffey, Jr. /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Craig Griffey / Ken Griffey, Sr. /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Ken Griffey, Jr. / Ken Griffey, Sr. /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards R. Ryan / Nolan Ryan /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Paul Wilson / Phil Nevin /15000

And here they are:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks
Flip Cards (w/ Craig) /15000

This is the regular base card featuring Junior and his brother Craig.

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks
Flip Cards (w/ Ken, Sr.) /15000

And this is the regular base card he shares with Ken, Sr.

So far things are pretty straight-forward, right? Enjoy this moment, for it is fleeting.

There are also autographed versions of the Flip Cards, none of which were signed by both Griffeys – they were strictly one autograph each. I know this doesn’t sound like that big a deal, but it took me a minute to figure that out. This means that if you were lucky enough to pull an autographed Griffey flip card, odds were it was either Craig or Ken, Sr. The two signed Junior cards were the rarest of all the autographs.

And here they are:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures
Autograph (w/ Craig) #/1000 (factory-sealed w/ COA)

And the one with Ken, Sr.:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards
Signatures Autograph (w/ Ken, Sr.) #/1000

Right away this tells us that the Beckett Tribute checklist, while the wording appears to list four dual auto cards (that’s how I saw it, anyway), actually lists four cards with two players each only signed by one of the players. Here is how the Beckett Tribute checklist would have listed them if they had wanted to save me numerous fruitless searches for dual autos that don’t exist:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures /500 (Craig and Ken, Jr., signed by Jr. only)
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures /500 (Ken, Sr and Jr., signed by Jr. only)
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures /1000 (Craig and Ken, Jr., signed by Craig only)
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures /1000 (Ken, Sr and Jr., signed by Sr. only)

I can’t always brain stuff good, but this…THIS I can brain.

So there are at least two other cards we need if we're going to have all the Juniors, those being the autographed versions of these same cards for the other two Griffey guys. 

And here they are:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards
Signatures (w/ Craig Autograph only) #/1050

There's Craigles...

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards
Signatures (w/ Ken, Sr. Autograph only) #/1050

...and of course big man.

There are a lot of quality baseball card databases on the web, but when it comes to this particular set, most of them are rife with inaccuracies. The only site I’ve found that gets it close is Beckett. Here is what they have to say about 1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards. You Junior collectors may want to mind the bold parts:

“Randomly inserted in Signature Rookie Draft Picks baseball packs, this nine-card standard-size autograph set features full-bleed color action shots on both sides. Marbleized green stripes accent the pictures on the left and bottom. Individual autographs appear across the photo. Instead of inserting an autographed card, an individually numbered certificate was inserted to be redeemed for those cards featuring the autographs of Nolan Ryan and Ken Griffey Jr. Ryan signed 1,000 of the Nolan/Reid cards and Ken Jr. signed 500 picturing him with Ken Sr. and 500 with brother Craig. Phil Nevin signed 1,050 cards, Reid Ryan 2,100, Craig Griffey signed 2,000 (1000 with Ken Jr. and 1000 with Ken Sr.) and Ken Sr. signed 2000 (1000 with Craig and 1000 with Ken Jr.). The cards are unnumbered and checklisted below alphabetically according to the first player listed.

#AU1A JR AU/Craig #/1000 (500?)
#AU1B JR/Craig AU #/1050
#AU2A SR AU/Craig #/1050
#AU2B SR/Craig AU#/1050
#AU3A JR AU/SR #/1000 (500?)
#AU3B JR/SR AU #/1050
#AU4A Nolan Ryan AU/Reid Ryan #/1000
#AU4B Nolan Ryan/Reid Ryan AU #/2100
#AU5A Phil Nevin AU/Paul Wilson #/1050
#AU5B Phil Nevin/Paul Wilson AU #/1050”

It appears that Beckett added those card numbers for their own purposes as, again, there are no official numbers on the cards themselves. Also, I added the “(500?)” to the Junior autos because multiple sources including the Beckett Tribute checklist, Baseballcardpedia, and the paragraph preceding the above checklist all say he signed 500. I’m not 100% sold on how many there actually are, but I have an educated guess. 

In the meantime, we now have enough information to put together a fairly accurate 1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Griffey checklist:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards (w/ Craig) /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards (w/ Ken, Sr.) /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures Autograph (w/ Craig) #/1000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures Autograph (w/ Ken, Sr.) #/1000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures (w/ Craig Autograph) #/1050
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures (w/ Ken, Sr. Autograph) #/1050

I put this into BEAST format as that is how Daddy likes it. As you can see there are six different Junior cards: the two regular flip cards, the two Junior autographs, and the two other Griffey autographs with Junior on the flip side of each. It could be argued that you don’t necessarily need the two other Griffey autographs, but in the strictest sense they are legit variations of Junior cards. They’re pretty inexpensive, too. I say count ‘em, and so does the Beckett Tribute checklist.

Another issue with many online sources is that Craig and Ken, Sr. each signed 1050 of each of their respective two cards. This number is listed as 1000 in a lot of places - again, the above paragraph from Beckett included. 1050 is the correct number.

Let’s take a closer look at the autographed Junior cards:

Here are both Junior autos, the left one has Craig on the flip side and the right one has Senior. The one on the left has a small hole punched over the nameplate of the Craig side, so we know this COA is a false back that they simply slapped over poor Craig. Now let’s look at the Craig and Senior autos with Senior and Craig respectively on the flip sides:

So Craig and Senior signed 1050 copies of each of their flip cards (for a total of 2100), and they are each numbered to that – 1050. Makes sense, right? Junior, however, is said - in multiple independent sources, mind you - to have signed 500 of each card for a total of 1000. So why are the cards numbered to 1000 and not 500? Wouldn’t it make the cards more desirable if the numeration was the correct, lower number? And if they were using the same numbering format across the board, shouldn’t the Craig and Senior auto cards be numbered to 525 each?

On top of everything, if both versions of the Junior autograph cards were considered part of the same run of 1000, it would follow that the first 500 would be one card and the last 500 would be the other. I mean, they wouldn’t mix the cards into a giant pile Go-Fish-style before he started signing. I ask because I have one of each as you can see, and they are really close in serial number. How would that even happen?

You might think some of this was caused by a third-party aftermarket seller (not unlike The Score Board) who got a hold of a large quantity of these Flip Cards, had them signed, and sold them privately, possibly through a home shopping outlet. That big slab does look like the kind of thing they would sell autographed cards in. Well here is what I consider the biggest piece of this puzzle: that slabbed one I have has about as air-tight a pedigree as I've ever seen in my life. Take a look:

Sealed on both sides with unbroken Signature Rookies branded seals

COA is sealed inside, hand-numbered, and signed IN TRIPLICATE
by everyone involved in the card's signing including the president of
the damn company.

I quite literally do not own a baseball card with better pedigree than that. I'm not certain one exists.

With this mountain of evidence at hand, my guess is that there was a miscommunication somewhere early on that Junior signed 500 of each card when in reality he signed 1000 of each and the numbering on the cards is correct. The above sealed COA give me confidence that BBCP and Beckett just have it wrong. And it's not like it's in my best interest that there be MORE of these things around. I'd prefer the correct number be 500, but the numbers, COA's, branded seals, and logic don't lie.

The worst part of all this is that there are SO MANY MORE irregularities in this run of autographs. I’ve seen versions of the Junior autos with numbering on the front and in different places, versions with numbering on the back, and versions with no numbering at all. I’ve seen versions with a gold foil “Authentic Signature” sticker, still others with a clear version of the same sticker, and plenty with no sticker at all. I’ve even seen versions with the false back removed, revealing the Craig side of the card, and versions without any false back at all as well as no sticker and no numbering. Every autograph appears to exist in every configuration you can imagine, so how do you know when you’ve completed the set?

Just to be safe (and because they're cheap as dirt), I did go ahead and grab the remaining non-Junior Griffeys. And here they are:

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards 
Signatures Ken Griffey, Sr. and Craig Griffey (w/ Craig 
Autograph only) #/1050

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards
Signatures Ken Griffey, Sr. and Craig Griffey (w/
Ken, Sr. Autograph only) #/1050

Both have gold stickers - at least there's some consistency. I don't need these in the strictest sense, and they are not on the 1996 Beckett Tribute Checklist; but I feel like a baddass having all of them.

Despite all the unanswered questions, I consider the matter closed. The way I see it, I have all the 1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Card Griffeys. ALL OF THEM, I SAY. There are simply too many variations of these autos to bother stressing out about finding one of every version. Screw that noise.

So is that enough monkey wrenches for ya? Well here’s another: there are also a few seemingly-unaccounted-for mystery Griffeys from 1994 Signature Rookies (NOT Draft Picks apparently), namely the 24kt Gold Signature cards. And here they are:

1994 Signature Rookies 24 Karat Gold Signature
#S2 /7750 (w/ signature and COA)

Neat, right? Well, here's another:

1994 Signature Rookies 24 Karat Gold Signature
#S2 /7750 (no signature)

Okay, not as fun, this one. But...also 1 of 7,750? You sure?

Despite the fact that they say “Signature” in the set title, these are not signed. Instead, they have a thick, gold facsimile signature that has the slightly-below-room-temperature coolness of metal. I’ll admit it – they are really striking, and I’m a fan.

They say they are limited to 7,750, but I’ve never been able to pin down whether that is a cumulative total and just a few of them have the gold signature or if there are 7,750 of each or what. I assume it’s cumulative and there are somehow fewer with the gold signature than without. I would feel more strongly about this if that COA didn’t also say there are 7,750 of them. What are these, and how did they make it out into the world?

And to be clear, there is no indication that the auto was ever on the non-auto card. No glue residue, no discoloration, no damage of any kind. The surface is perfect. Not to mention the "auto" is three separate pieces which would make the auto simply having fallen off even less likely. And mine is not super rare or anything - I've seen numerous examples of both versions, usually with questions from the owners about what exactly their deal is. I wish I had answers.

With the addition of the 24kt Gold Signature cards, our 1994 Signature Rookies Junior checklist is finally complete, and here it is:

1994 Signature Rookies 24 Karat Gold Signature #S2 /7750 (no signature)
1994 Signature Rookies 24 Karat Gold Signature #S2 /7750 (w/ signature and COA)
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards (w/ Craig) /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards (w/ Ken, Sr.) /15000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures Autograph (w/ Craig) #/1000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures Autograph (w/ Ken, Sr.) #/1000
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures (w/ Craig Autograph only) #/1050
1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Flip Cards Signatures (w/ Ken, Sr. Autograph only) #/1050

If I told you the time I put into putting together this final checklist, you would think I’m a big loser (like, more so). And you would be right. Thanks for reading.

How Much is Your Griffey Card Worth? A Complete Guide

This post is not for everybody, but I've been meaning to put it together for some time. Today was the day.

I get two or three emails a week about card values. Most are quick and easy, but occasionally people argue with me like I’m trying to talk them out of cashing in a winning lottery ticket. Being that as a rule I don't buy cards from anyone through unsolicited emails, this is literally never the case. 

If you have an inkling your card is worth hundreds or even thousands, PUMP. THE. BRAKES. The odds are very much against this. Here are four places you can look that should give you reasonably accurate prices for your card:

1. eBay - “Sold” and “Completed” listings ONLY

2. COMC.com

3. Baseballcardpedia.com

4. Beckett Price Guide

Let’s go a little more in-depth with each of these:

eBay

Like it or not, eBay is the most valuable tool in your toolbox. It shows true market prices in real time which few other sites can do, but it can be misleading.

The problem is that eBay would let you list a paper clip for ten thousand dollars. Your paper clip would almost certainly not sell for that, but anyone with a box of paper clips who sees your auction might think they’re sitting on a gold mine. Look what I just did:

100% REAL.

I did this on my phone while sitting on the couch in my underwear. It took 45 seconds. That’s how easy it is.

Do not go by listed prices. Go by SOLD PRICES.

Viewing sold and completed items is easy. On the mobile app it is under the “Filter” tab at the top right of the screen. On a computer browser it is in your filters toolbar to the left of the search results. 

Mobile App

Browser

This will show you actual, realized prices for each card.

Here’s a real-world example of some misleading listings for a card I get emailed about ALL THE TIME:

This card is not worth $700, $500, or even $250 (though the PSA 9 may be an exception - high PSA grades are like that). At the time of this writing this is a $20 card at best. Again, listed prices are not values. Here are the completed/sold listings for that same card:

See? Big difference. How that one guy got $22 for his I'll never know.

Here’s another example:

LOL "Cincy Area Code." I assure you those two watchers are there strictly out of morbid curiosity. 

This card is as common as they come, but look at that price. Somebody is going to see this and think that is an acceptable value. Well let’s look at what it’s actually selling for:

Oof. Not even close. I bet the penny guy is one of those two watchers.

One exception to this rule is graded cards which could potentially go for a lot more. If your card is literally flawless (which it probably isn’t), you can submit it for grading with PSA or BGS for a fee. If it receives the coveted PSA 10 or BGS 9.5 or 10, the value could almost certainly be a lot higher. Don’t count on this, and don’t list your card as a high grade unless it is actually graded, a process that costs real money and takes several weeks.

COMC

Check Out My Cards or COMC.com has been around for years and features a huge inventory of common and not-so-common cards with pricing that sellers can update in real time. I buy and sell on COMC pretty much every day. It’s a great resource, and your card is probably on there right now.

Here’s the current COMC listing for that same Griffey card that seems to confuse so many:

Not unreasonable. You can also make offers to the sellers for lower if you think they’ll go for it. The vast majority of cards I am asked about can be found with a quick search on COMC. Again, the prices are set by the seller, so they aren’t always totally accurate:

I wish...

Despite outliers like this, COMC does tend to follow the market pretty closely in most cases.

Baseballcardpedia

Baseballcardpedia.com is a compendium of card knowledge for just about every baseball set ever produced. This is a good place to check and see if you have a rare variation or parallel. It gives pack odds and details on how to spot variations. Simply look up the set your card is from.

In this case the card is clearly by Upper Deck with a production date (on the back) of 1993, so here is the listing for 1993 Upper Deck. The set is obviously Fifth Anniversary because that's what it says on the card. This grid of insertion ratios puts this one at 1:9 packs which is not scarce by any stretch. Let's look closer by scrolling down to the detail for that insert:

Hey, there are jumbos, too. I did not know that (I did, though).

Beckett

If you still aren’t satisfied with the myriad valuations of your card you’ve already seen, go to the experts. Beckett has been the retail standard for decades, and they offer both print and online versions of their price guide. Here is that card in the most recent print issue:

There you go. eBay and COMC are actually being a little generous, aren’t they? This happens a lot with Griffeys in Beckett.

What if I can't find a value for my card in any of these?

Oooh, really? You might have something special.

Some cards values are more difficult to ascertain even with all these great resources at your fingertips. Things like 1/1’s, low-numbered issues, and errors are just a few examples of what may give you trouble. I’ll be honest: these are more difficult. Go ahead and send me an image of your warlock Griffey card, because I want to see it.

You don't want to hear this, but the answer I will probably end up giving you is the right one: cards like these are worth what the market will pay. If you want to know the value, start checking eBay listings for comparable cards. If you really want to see the market in action, start that auction at one cent and watch the fun.

Generally speaking errors sell much better when authenticated by a grading outfit like PSA or BGS, but concrete values can be elusive.

1/1's and super low-numbered card values are subjective to the point that Beckett doesn’t even list them. Recent issues can go for plenty, but there are a lot of in’s and out’s. Big fancy patches help as do on-card autos. Recent sticker autos and simple color parallels are certainly neat but tend to command less. ‘90’s inserts and parallels can easily go for well into the thousands. 

Do a little research before you decide on a price you can live with. And feel free to make inquiries in the collecting community via social media. Most of the people there are good folks, and many of them will make you solid offers thereby avoiding eBay fees altogether.

But the odds are the card you want to know about is not one of these. Based on what I get asked about 3-4 times a week, it’s probably on COMC right now for less than five bucks. Don’t let that dishearten you, though. Some of the greatest collections started with only one card. Mine did - it was 1989 Donruss #33.

In closing, I’d like to add that I hate the whole dollars-and-cents side of the Griffey game, especially now that it's getting to be pretty high stakes. Having both made and lost money on cards I can tell you that as soon as dollars are involved, that’s when emotions start running high, feelings start getting hurt, and people can get angry. Try not to lean too much into this aspect of it and just enjoy the hobby, man. It's supposed to be fun.

And give your not-extraordinarily-valuable cards to a kid or something for goodness sake.