The 1989 baseball card season marked a boom period in the industry as collectors feverishly obtained and traded the highly coveted rookie cards of future Hall of Famers and all-time great players. While many cards from sets like Donruss, Fleer, Score and Topps had inflated values in the late 80s card bubble, several stand out as truly monumental in terms of their historic significance and record-breaking prices. Below we examine the top 5 most expensive baseball cards from 1989 based on their all-time sales and what makes each one so uniquely valuable to collectors.
Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck RC (#1) – Undoubtedly the most famous and coveted baseball card in history is the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck rookie card. Often referred to simply as “The Griffey”, examples of this card in pristine near-mint to mint condition have regularly broken every record for the highest price paid for a single baseball card. In 2016, a PSA 10 graded version fetched an astounding $228,000 through Goldin Auctions, setting the bar for modern era cards. What makes Griffey’s rookie so iconic are his immediate superstar success, photographic perfection posing in the powerful Mariners uniform, and the fact Upper Deck had an exclusive license in 1989, making it the only widely produced Griffey rookie available. Occupying a legendary spot at the top of virtually every collector’s want list, PSA 10 versions still trade hands for well over $100,000 to this day.
Frank Thomas 1989 Leaf RC (#2) – Like Griffey, Frank Thomas established himself right away as one of baseball’s best with a dominant rookie campaign for the White Sox in 1990. What makes his 1989 Leaf Rookie Card especially collectible is its scarcity, with production estimates as low as 10,000 packs or less. This extreme rarity along with Thomas’ Hall of Fame career led to a PSA 10 example selling for $75,100 at Heritage Auctions in 2020. While not quite as iconic an image as the Griffey, the Leaf RC satisfies collectors with one of the most difficult cards from the late 80s to acquire in top condition.
Chipper Jones 1989 Bowman RC (#3) – As the top overall draft pick and Rookie of the Year in 1995, Chipper Jones lived up to the hype surrounding his rookie card in Bowman’s inaugural baseball set. Not as scarce as the Frank Thomas but still well below the output of Score, Donruss and Topps, high grade Chipper Jones rookies have hit $50,000. His switch-hitting longevity and popularity in Atlanta make this one of the most valuable modern rookie cards for a position player after Griffey and Thomas. Clean copies remain highly sought after to this day.
Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Upper Deck Hologram (#4) – While the standard Griffey rookie gets top billing, collectors also covet his much rarer 1989 Upper Deck Hologram parallel version. Sporting a futuristic holographic treatment on the front, the scarcest parallel from the 1989 UD set is estimated to have a print run of less than 100 copies. An immaculate PSA 10 recently changed hands for $46,200, showing the rabid demand for anything associated with “The Kid’s” rookie year. Even in lower grades, this flashy parallel holds value thanks to its extreme scarcity.
Randy Johnson 1989 Bowman RC (#5) – As one of the most dominating and intimidating pitchers ever, Randy Johnson would become a surefire Hall of Famer. Early believers got his rookie card in Bowman’s inaugural set, which remains highly sought after despite a larger print run versus the more scarce 1989 Leaf, Score or Upper Deck prospects sets. Graded examples as high as PSA 10 have exceeded $40,000 at auction due to “The Big Unit’s” sheer awesomeness on the mound across 22 big league seasons. The card depicts a mustachioed Johnson in Mariners garb during his early minor league days.
The incredible talents and immediate impacts of future Hall of Famers like Griffey, Thomas and Jones led their 1989 rookie cards to achieve record prices befitting icons of the game. Scarcity also plays a major role, whether due to low print runs or more coveted parallel versions. While the industry may never see values reach the speculative heights of the late 80s bubble era again, certain vintage cards from players’ early careers will always hold immense nostalgia and significance for collectors. The most valuable from 1989 stand as some of the revered rookie cards in the entire hobby.
