The 1989 Score baseball card set marked a reintroduction of the popular Score brand that had disappeared after 1986. When Score returned in 1989, the cards featured modern design and photography elements that collectors found appealing. The rise of the PSA grading service in the early 1990s helped fuel demand for high grade examples of key 1989 Score rookie cards as investors sought investments in the growing market.
Some of the most coveted rookie cards from the 1989 Score set include Ken Griffey Jr., Cecil Fielder, Gregg Olson, and Barry Larkin. Griffey’s rookie is arguably one of the most iconic and valuable cards in the entire hobby given his eventual Hall of Fame career and status as one of the game’s all-time great players. In high grades, Griffey rookies have reached prices over $10,000 slabbed by PSA.
Fielder’s rookie is also highly sought after for investors and Tigers fans given his 52 home run season of 1990 that helped launch the home run chase era in baseball. A PSA 10 Fielder rookie has sold for over $2,000 before. Olson and Larkin rookies have also found strong demand from collectors of Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds teams from that era.
Beyond the big name rookies, the 1989 Score set also featured key stars already established in the majors like Barry Bonds, Nolan Ryan in his final season, Ozzie Smith, and Roberto Alomar. High grade examples of cards showing these all-time great players in action have remained popular holdinsg for collectors. For example, a PSA 10 Barry Bonds card has sold for over $1,000.
One drawback 1989 Score had compared to the iconic rookie cards of the late 1980s was that most of the players were not quite established names yet. Sets like 1987 Topps, 1988 Fleer, and 1989 Upper Deck had featured the debut cards of players who would become superstars like Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, and Chipper Jones. However, Score helped fill the void left by the disappearance of Donruss after 1986 and provided affordable vintage cardboard for collectors before the ultra-premium sets took over.
The 1989 Score set had 396 total cards with basic design aesthetics that featured a color team logo with the player’s picture below and stats on the reverse. Some parallel sets also exist like Glossy Sentinels which added gloss magazine-like photo variations. Overall condition of the cardboard stock has remained sturdy over the decades, but off-centering can be a problem affecting grades for examples seeking PSA 10 status.
By the 1990s, the emergence of the PSA grading service helped drive values for pristine commemorative cards like the key 1989 Score rookie cards. Investors and advanced collectors sought out mint condition cards they could potentially profit from long term as the mantle pieces in their collections. Submitting cards to PSA also provided buyer confidence and a standard of authenticity that helped fuel sales prices above raw mint cards.
One of the most iconic PSA-graded 1989 Score rookie cards remains the Ken Griffey Jr. Many consider a PSA 10 Griffey the true “Holy Grail” for the set. Only about 100 PSA 10 Griffey rookies are known to exist according to the population report. In 2011, one example achieved the record price at auction for any 1989 Score card by selling for $22,737.50 graded by PSA. The allure of such a pristine example of one of the game’s most beloved players remains incredibly strong even today.
In 2020, a PSA 10 Cecil Fielder rookie from 1989 Score sold for $3,200 showing how even ‘lesser name’ cards in gemmint condition can still attract solid prices. The Griffey continues to be the real blue-chip card from the set. As more are lost or lowered in grade due to natural aging, population numbers for PSA 10 examples will continue to drop over time. This will potentially push values even higher for Griffey collectors hoping to one day add the iconic rookie to their collection.
While more common prospects and role players from 1989 Score can likely be acquired for under $10, high grade copies of the stars will still command respectable prices today. On the modern market, the hobby has seen renewed interest in vintage 1980s cardboard in the PSA 9 to PSA 10 range as collectors aim to get affordable preserved pieces of history before prices climb too far out of reach. As a result, strong demand remains for desirable Hall of Famers and stars imprisoned in slab with perfect grades from the 1989 Score set. For collectors and investors, this set maintains relevance decades after its original release.
