The year 1990 was an interesting time for baseball card collectors and the magazines that followed the hobby. Several major events in the sport occurred that year which captured the attention of fans and created excitement around the cards being released to memorialize that season. Two of the biggest magazines covering the baseball card industry at the time, Beckett Baseball Card Monthly and Sports Collectors Digest, documented all the action from that year in print while helping collectors navigate the boom in trading cards.
Entering 1990, the baseball card market was red hot from a late 1980s surge in popularity. Both kids and adults were snatching up packs at record rates, sending values skyrocketing on the secondary market. This attracted even more collectors to the scene, creating a level of demand not seen since the bubble years of the 1950s. The overproduction that resulted also planted the seeds for the crash that would come by the mid-1990s. In 1990 though, that future outcome remained far from collective minds. Everyone was riding high on the current wave of success.
Magazines served an important role in informing the hobby at its peak. Beckett Baseball Card Monthly was seen as the premier authoritative voice, known for its price guide which collectors relied on as the ‘bible’ of what their collections were worth. It meticulously tracked values of even the most obscure cards on the market. In 1990, some of the biggest risers they documented included stars like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Nolan Ryan as their renown escalated. Iconic rookie cards from the 1952 Topps and 1975 Topps sets also made headlines with new record prices achieved at auction.
Meanwhile, Sports Collectors Digest focused more on the collector experience and provided hobby news, interviews, and columns penned by industry personalities. In 1990, they profiled collectors who amassed monumental holdings, including a man in Ohio possessing over 1 million baseball cards in inventory. SCD chronicled new blockbuster releases hitting the scene as well, like Upper Deck which was taking the sports card world by storm with its modern innovations and premium package. The ‘Golden Bear’ Ted Williams even graced their cover that year after signing a lucrative endorsement deal.
On the diamond, the 1990 season itself delivered plenty of excitement. The Cincinnati Reds and manager Lou Piniella prevailed in a tight pennant race to win the National League, getting over the hump after several lean years. But it was the Oakland Athletics, led by Dave Stewart and Rickey Henderson, who stole the show by upsetting the Reds in a dramatic World Series that went the full seven games. Rookie sensation Ken Griffey Jr. also captured imagination of fans nationwide with his electrifying play for the Seattle Mariners. Their performances that October without a doubt moved the needle on the value of their corresponding baseball cards.
Perhaps most notably though, 1990 marked the beginning of the Steroid Era. While allegations of PED usage had swirled for years among pros, it was that summer when whispers became roars. After posting prodigious power numbers, former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Dave Pallone published a tell-all “tell-some” book making claims of rampant drug use inside MLB clubhouses. Though many stars denied or downplayed Pallone’s assertions, the genie was now out of the bottle in terms of bringing steroids into the popular dialog. This directly impacted the trading card industry too, as it raised questions on natural ability that still linger today for the stats achieved in that period.
As the 1990 season wound down, both Beckett and SCD looked ahead to another banner year on the horizon for the collecting world. The ill-fated 1991 Topps Baseball set was highly anticipated, Upper Deck mania showed no signs of slowing, and new products from Fleer and Score promised to heat up competition further. Meanwhile, the hobby generally remained blissfully unaware that aggressive overproduction and wider availability would inevitably lead to a crash just a few years later. Most were still content to ride the unprecedented wave of popularity and profit that, in 1990, seemed to have no ceiling in sight.
Through covering the action and prices that year in their magazines, Beckett Baseball Card Monthly and Sports Collectors Digest served a crucial role by documenting a fascinating transition period. The hobby was booming commercially while also facing first hints of looming issues, from steroid revelations to financial excess behind the scenes. And 1990, with notable on-field events and new heights achieved by the trading card industry, marked an apex before the long drift downward got fully underway. Their printed pages from that year stand now as an historical record of where it all began heading, for better and worse, as the baseball card craze of the late 80s continued churning at a dizzying pace into the new decade.
