Ladies and Gentlemen, the 1989 Upper Deck #1 Rookie

In my collection: 7

Griffey looks: awesome

Is this a good Griffey card?: Yes.  This is arguably the greatest Griffey card.  1st set in Upper Deck history, 1st card from that set, and a collector favorite.  The cornerstone of any serious Griffey collection, or any modern baseball card collection.

The set: Everybody fawns over this set like it's the second coming, and that sentiment is not undeserved.  Ahead of it's time and a game-changer in the sports card world as a whole, this is the first set offered by the new Upper Deck Company, LLC.  They did to baseball cards what Apple did to the Walkman.  The cards are printed on high-quality paper stock with excellent full-color photography on the front and back.  Take a look:

The pitching photography was a big standout in this set for me.  Here are some examples of that:

Here are a few big names you can find in this set:

They also threw in these cards featuring cool paintings of big stars for the team checklists.  Not like Donruss Diamond Kings, I mean reasonably good paintings of guys that were really stars.  Here's a few:

What kind of baseball card blog would this be if I didn't poke a little fun?  Here's some mildly amusing pictures you can giggle at if you're so inclined:

Valenzuela, you are a character....

The packs were foil.  Like real foil - not shiny mylar.  They could draw blood fairly easily (I have spilled some in my hunt for the Griffey - worth it).  No wax packs which meant no soft glue on the back of the bottom card (looking at you, '89 Donruss).  The foil made the packs tamper-evident, and the hologram stamped on every card prevented counterfeiting.  Some serious security for a pre-9/11 world. 

Upper Deck declared themselves "The Collector's Choice," and all the other companies followed suit by beefing up their products, thereby bringing the industry into a new golden age.  Just look through the commons in this set - this is a set with personality.  These cards have moxy.  Maybe not the Jack Clark pictured above, but the Valenzuela?!  Come on......

On to the Griffey:

Man, the Kid looks awesome.  Check out those pearly whites, the understated jewelry, the bat on the shoulder like it's little league picture day, the flawless lighting, the blue sky in background, our first peek at the famous Junior-stache.  The guy is bright-eyed and conscientious, optimistic about the future, and dammit, he loves America.  This is a baseball card photo.  Take that, Saddam!

That is not a Seattle Mariners uniform.  That is his San Bernardino Spirit uniform, adding to the rookie-ness of this photograph.  Also, Griffey was coming off a back injury.  It wasn't even clear whether he would actually get to play in '89, but Upper Deck threw the dice and the guy ended up being Ken Griffey freakin' Jr.  Upper Deck appreciates the importance of this card.  At least, they did in 1993:

So, there's a lot of lore regarding how to get your hands on a 1989 Upper Deck #1 Ken Griffey Jr, rookie card.  Let's talk about it.

I am proud to say that I pulled mine from a pack at a card shop back when I was too young to know that $10 per pack was ridiculous.  The card was only averaging around $75, but it might as well have been a thousand.  I bought a pack and got nothing.  I was about to leave, but stopped, and Willy Wonka-style, I asked the man for one more.  I proceeded to spaz out when I pulled it, and the card shop guy had obviously been watching my haul because he nearly had a seizure.  He was nice enough, though, and put it in a top-loader for me.  I shelled out 9 bucks for one of those inch-and-a-half thick, complete overkill, 4-screw plastic cases, and there it has been ever since.  This was an immensely proud day for me.

Now about that lore - there was a time when people were accepting money for information the nature of which guaranteed you the Griffey pull from any newly-opened box of 1989 Upper Deck.  I imagine it was something along the lines of "top-right quarter, 4th pack down always has it."  That's probably not it, but that's how I always imagined it.  If you know anything about that system, I'd love to hear about it.  With this in mind, I always thought back to the guy at the card shop.  Did he know the system, and had he already used it on that particular box?  Is that why he was so surprised I landed one?  Is there a system for pulling, say, the Ron Kittle?  I'll probably never know for sure....

If the system is real, people are buying unopened boxes, fishing out the Griffeys, then selling the loose packs on ebay to recoup the cost of the box.  Result: free Griffey, possible BGS 10.  If so, market value: about $1250.00.  If a 9.5, you can get around $130.00.  Lower than that, expect anywhere between 20 and 30 bucks.  I got a BGS 7.5 for $16 once just because I could.

Now, less than 800 have been graded a 10 by Beckett Grading Services.  And a 10 is very hard to come by from a pack.  Why?  To Wikipedia!

"The card was situated in the top left hand corner of the uncut sheets and was more liable to be cut poorly or have its corners dinged."

It is easier to find this card graded a 10 by PSA.  Why?  Again, Wikipedia:

"Company policy was that if a customer found a damaged card in its package, the company would replace it.  Many Griffey cards were returned and the result was that Upper Deck printed many uncut sheets (sheets consisting of 100 cards) of just the Griffey card.  According to Professional Sports Authenticator, the Ken Griffey, Jr. would become the most graded card of all time with the company."

Uncut sheets of just Griffeys.  Can you imagine?

This Griffey in a PSA 10 will run you between $250 and $300.  Since BGS hasn't been doing this as long as PSA and the card replacement option is no longer available, the only newly-found '89 UD #1's BGS is grading are those pulled from packs.  Since a 10 is so rare from a pack, a BGS 10 is pricy.  You may be better off finding a very nice PSA 10-graded specimen, cracking open the case and sending it to Beckett.

None of this grading stuff used to matter to me.  But you know what?

I fell for it.  Why?  Check out the blog title.

All hail the card of cards.....!

1989 Fleer #548 Tiffany Rookie

In my collection: 1 Tiffany, 12 regular

Griffey Looks: sweaty

Is this a good Griffey card?: Yes.  It’s a Tiffany rookie, Griffey’s 1^st Fleer card, and features a rarely-disheveled Junior in the midst of spring training.  Definitely my least favorite major company Griffey rookie, but did I mention it’s Tiffany?

The set: The ’89 set is the rarest of the Fleer Tiffany sets.  The "Tiffany" cards have glossy fronts and blue printing on the back where the regular set is yellow.  Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the backs, noting that I scanned the Tiffany card in its case because I am anal.  Forgive the blurriness:

Behold!  This is from the esteemed Collector's Edition of 1989.  The regular edition just wouldn't do.  I needed the glossy front, the blue back, and the mighty seal of the CE.  I hope you enjoy not being able to read the very interesting Did You Know? facts from the back of the card compiled by the ghost of Frank Fleer himself. 

Beyond that and the shorter print run on the Tiffany sets, I don’t believe any differences exist.  ’89 Fleer featured full-bleed printing on the front and nice, clean white cardboard composition allowing for excellent readability on the back.  And check out all that gray.  Mmm….pinstriped gray with yellow trim.  Kids love gray.  You know what else is gray and yellow?  Nothing.  Know why?  It’s ugly.  Like parking lot ugly.  Picking on late 80’s design is like shooting fish in a barrel, so I’ll stop here.

Cards in this set hold before- and after-All Star Break performance in high esteem for some reason.  In fact, this is the only set that I know of that does this.  See the little man in the hammock?  Fleer was very proud of this illustration.  And it makes you want to buy a hammock so you too can snooze like an All-Star.

Here are some other notable cards in this set:

Here's Chet "Rocket" Steadman before he was traded to the Cubs where he, with the unlikely help of 12-year-old pitching phenom Henry Rowengartner, brought the Cubbies to the World Series.  And I think they won (he had the ring at the end, so I can only assume).  1993 was a hell of a year for baseball, and for cheese-related pitching.

I'm kidding - I made this image in MS Paint.  That's actually Jerry Reuss, who really is a pitcher.  I love cards that feature pitchers batting, especially pitchers that look like Busey.

There's also this:

These are different results of the printing of this card:

Which, if you have been collecting baseball cards for any amount of time, you already knew about.  Possibly the greatest error card in history.  Funny that he plays second base as what his bat describes is closer to 3rd. Here’s the most recent dirt on the Billy Ripken "Rick Face" bat fiasco. 

And here’s a few more cards with accidental curse words on them just for fun:

Nettles also pulled a Billy Ripken, but his verbiage rhymes with "pass toll."  Ahem.

Let's get back to Griffey.  

The Kid looks sweaty, brah.  This is bar none his sweatiest card.  It shows Griffey "the hard worker" which while a great message for the kiddies is less attractive visually.  Like, he was running wind sprints in long sleeves, mind you, fully embatted, begloved, and behelmeted, and the Fleer guy was like, “Junior, hold up for a m- <camera snaps> Thanks!”  Boom, picture taken, Fleer guy out.  Maybe it was right before lunch - the sun does appear rather high in the sky….

The sweatiness of the Kid combined with the glossiness of the Collector's Edition set make for a very shiny card indeed.  I have to squint sometimes when I behold this card on a sunny day.  The above picture is a scan of the regular edition (see the sweet pink discoloration?).  If I were to scan the glossy version it would melt my computer.

In closing, this is another unsung rookie card.  No pictures of little trophies, nobody "rated" him, the card number is high and meaningless.  It's a collector's rookie card.  You can get this card in a PSA 8 on eBay right now for $23.00, and the regular edition goes for less than $5.
You can only imagine the depraved things Ron Kittle had written on his bat.....

1989 Donruss #33 Rated Rookie

1989 Donruss #33 Rated Rookie

In my collection: 22

Griffey looks: far away

Is this a good Griffey card?: Yes.  I chose this as the first card in my blog because this is the card that got me collecting.  To this day there’s a big soft spot in my heart for this set, and this card in particular.  

The set: Like the Fleer set of the same year, ‘89 Donruss was printed on white cardboard rather than brown.  This made for brighter colors in general and cleaner whites in the stat boxes on the back.  Topps and Bowman used white cardboard only in their hoity-toity Tiffany sets (and the Topps Traded set), so their regular-issue sets had lovely skidmark-brown backs that killed ink color.  The overwhelming orangeness of the back accentuates the white cardboard in the gaudiest fashion possible, but also allows for excellent readability of the Career Highlights.  The fronts are all full-bleed with split-fountain color fades on every card.  Overall, a sharp-looking set with a cool pulsating rainbow effect when the complete set is stacked together.  

The packs were red and blue, unmistakable in their bright yellow box that featured the word Baseball, also in rainbow, and Kirby Puckett winking at you from his MVP card.  These packs were pretty cheap even in the mid-90s when I was buying them, and you were practically guaranteed a Griffey in every box.  I bought so many packs I was able to assemble 5 Warren Spahn Puzzles, all but one of which are long gone.  

Here are some other notable cards from this set: 

 

When I was 11 I wore my reading glasses in my elementary school photo.  They made me look like a nearsighted beaver, so my parents didn’t like it.  Pictures from that year all seem to have disappeared, which I assume is a strategic move by my Dad or sisters, though I’m sure Mom has one or two hidden away somewhere.  Anyway, here’s Donruss Diamond King Chris Sabo painted in his Rec Specs.  Oh, Perez....

  

Also, Tony Pena good-naturedly being swallowed alive by his gigantic turtleneck.

And one pissed-off looking Big Unit rookie.  Hey, Randy!  I heard your sister’s going out with SQUEAK!

Just playing.  Lighten up, bro.  You’re in Canada.

So, apparently all these rookies have been “Rated.”  How, sir?  And by whom?  What is their rating?  Is it out of 10?  A Billion?  This remains one of the great mysteries of the card collecting world - or I’m just too lazy to look it up.  Also, this is a fun read.

On a personal note regarding this set: I wish they made Shazam for smells because I want my whole house (and wife) to smell like ’89 Donruss.  There is a wonderful smell that these cards emanate, especially fresh from the pack, that I don’t know how to describe.  The closest I can get is “1980’s Elementary School Library.”  I have a box of ’89 Donruss in the mail as I write this, and I am practically beside myself with excitement over the smell, the new Griffey, and the possibility of completing another set.  Mostly the smell.  I know it’s weird, but I write a baseball card blog, and that’s pretty weird, too.

(Update: that box did not contain a Griffey.  First box I've bought with no hit.  I did get a lot of cards, at least 2 more puzzles, and one frown)

Many pictures in the ’89 Donruss set appear staged with players posing.  There are many close-up camera shots, and some solid action shots.  Nothing wrong with that.  Photographers likely showed up at each team’s spring training, pulled players aside one-by-one and had them pose.  Still camera, close-up, plenty of light, reasonable focus.  The pictures turned out great:

Seems logical, and I’d do the same thing if I were a lazy late-80’s photographer.  Even the action shots that appear in the set are decent enough despite the empty stadiums.  Batters batting, pitchers pitching, Ron Kittle kittling.  I have no complaints. 

Let's get to the Griffey:

It’s hard for me to admit any picture of the Kid is not a good one, but dude.  It looks like they held a disposable camera up to a telescope in a fog bank from the moon.  The picture is blurry.  The blurriest Griffey picture I have ever seen and it’s on his rookie card.  Weak sauce, Donruss.  

When it comes to Griffey’s expression, well, obviously, they caught him working.  This is the face you make when you realize that someone is currently taking your photograph.  Not about to take it, but already snapping.  Brow slightly furrowed with the transition from confusion to understanding, mouth muscles just beginning to turn a smile but not yet recognizably there.  Half a second later, I guarantee you this man was full-on smiling like the 1^st round, straight-out-of-high-school draft pick that he was.  Maybe not Gregg Jefferies smiling, but close.

Don't get me wrong - this is my favorite Griffey rookie.  And Griffey seems happy with the card - here's proof from the groundbreaking 1992 Scholastic docu-novel Sports Shots Collector's Book 3, Ken Griffey, Jr.: One Hot Card:

The Kid signing an '89 Donruss #33, bending it up and totally destroying the corners.  Ouch.

So, what is a more meaningful rookie card?  Is it the “This guy is going to be a huge star, so pull out all the stops, drop some cool gold foil and holograms on there, short-print that shizz, maybe even focus the camera for this one” card, or the “This is just another pee-pants rookie so we didn’t even try and you can suck it” card? 

In closing, one of my all-time collecting goals is to acquire this Griffey in a BGS 10.  There’s one on eBay right now for $1500.  The BGS 9.5 is $40.  You know, that picture keeps looking blurrier and blurrier….