The 1989 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic and popular issues from the late 1980s.Released at the start of the 1989 MLB season, the set features 792 total cards including photos and bios of players from all 26 major league teams at the time. Some of the biggest stars prominently featured include Ken Griffey Jr., Ozzie Smith, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Rickey Henderson, and Wade Boggs.
Notable things about the 1989 Topps design include standard card size of 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, a photo centered on a solid color background, with team logo in the upper left and player stats/accomplishments along the bottom. Backs feature career stats and a short bio. Series 1 kicked off the main base set which ran from cards #1 to #661. Subsequent series filled in missing players and rookies throughout the season.
Besides the base roster cards, there were insert sets included like Traded, Update, Managers, Team Leaders, and Record Breakers subsets. Topps also included popular traded subsets each year spotlighting players who changed uniforms via trades in the previous offseason. 1989 had 15 Traded cards including Nolan Ryan moving to the Rangers and Eric Davis signing with the Reds.
Update cards in the late 1980s and early 90s functioned similarly to today’s SP/SP Authentic/Diamond parallels by featuring new photos and stats from after the initial print run. They served as a complement to the base issue. In ’89 there were 131 Update cards showcasing how players performed midway through the season. Managers cards featured all 26 big league skippers like Tony La Russa and Dave Johnson.
Team Leaders honored the top statistical performers for each club in categories like batting average, home runs, RBI, wins and ERA. Record Breakers celebrated historic MLB milestones by legends like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Nolan Ryan. Nostalgic inserts like Turn Back the Clock brought back vintage uniforms and photos in tribute to baseball’s past. Completeing the oddball side were fun novelty subsets like Hometown Heroes, Scoring Leaders and Future Stars.
Outside the core cards, 1989 Topps also had factory sets, hobby boxes and coin packs available. Factory sets came in plastic holding cases enclosing all the base cards in numerically ordered sleeves along with the inserts/subsets compiled together. Hobby boxes contained enough loose wax packs (typically 12 packs per box) to potentially complete the entire set multiple times over through brute force pack searching and trading. Coin packs held 5 random cards and were sold for pocket change at convenience stores andsupermarkets.
For collectors looking to complete a 1989 Topps set, acquiring the coveted short prints from the base issue presented one of the biggest challenges. Short prints were significantly rarer cards numbered above #600 with production quantities only around a tenth of the base cards. Top rookie SPs like Gregg Olson (#660), Juan Gonzalez (#655) and Ben McDonald (#647) fetched high prices since they were so tough to find in packs or through trades alone.
Graded 1979 Topps rookies for Franchise Future Stars like Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas and Greg Maddux also earn big bucks when they surface in pristine graded condition decades later. Top prospect Ken Griffey Jr’s (#581) record-setting $486,000 sale in 2016 showed how valuable pristine vintage cards for all-time greats can become as true investments over the long run.
Beyond the short prints and stars, chasing down the complete roster of commons was a big part of the collecting fun back in the day too. Tracing down that last obscure rookie or 12th man could require serious pack searches, sporting card show crate digging or mail trades with fellow collectors. Completing a set and outdoing your friends was a big sense of accomplishment back when tracking down specific cards was far from instant online.
Now in the modern era, unopened 1989 Topps wax packs are premium collectibles that appeal to both nostalgic vintage collectors and sealed product investors. Full unsearched hobby boxes rarely come on the market anymore and demand high prices due to their rarity. A factory sealed case of wax packs would be a true museum piece for serious vintage card connoisseurs. Meanwhile, complete commons-only master sets trade hands between avid collectors for substantial sums.
The 1989 Topps baseball card set stands out both historically and in the hearts of many card fans as one of the most iconic vintage issues ever produced. Featuring a who’s who of 1980s MLB stars and future Hall of Famers, it sparked the imaginations of children at the time and holds nostalgia value for adults collectors today retracing their roots in the hobby. Between the high-end stars, scintillating short prints and fun oddballs, the 1989 Topps set continues exciting collectors decades later.
