The 1990 Topps baseball card set was the 69th year for Topps to produce baseball cards and marked many milestones and changes from cards produced in previous years. Topps continued its tradition in 1990 of releasing 792 total cards in the base set including players, managers, coaches, and various promotional cards.
One of the biggest storylines of the 1990 MLB season was the retirement of Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart after 14 seasons in the major leagues. Stewart had put together a remarkable career winning 20 or more games four times and capturing three World Series championships with Oakland in 1989, 1988, and 1974. To commemorate his career and retirement, Topps produced a special retirement card for Stewart that was autographed by the pitcher himself and serially numbered out of only 1000 copies. These autographed Stewart retirement cards are among the most valuable and sought after cards from the 1990 Topps set.
Another historic retirement that Topps acknowledged was that of Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox legend Pete Rose. Despite being banned from baseball for life due to gambling allegations, Rose was still one of the game’s all-time great hit kings with over 4,000 career hits. Topps included Rose in the 1990 set but left him unnumbered among the base cards as a nod to his controversial status with Major League Baseball at the time. Rose’s card remains one of the most iconic and replicated cards in the hobby.
Topps also paid tribute to recently retired pitching great Don Sutton with an ‘All-Time Leaders’ card noting his wins record among right-handed pitchers. Sutton retired after 23 seasons, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, winning 324 career games which was later surpassed by Roger Clemens. Sutton continued to sign cards and autograph editions for collectors well after his playing days had ended.
Rookie cards featured in the 1990 Topps set included Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, Expos outfielder Marquis Grissom, and A’s pitcher Brian DuBois among the more notable first year pros included. Larkin would go on to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012 while Grissom had a solid 17 year career mostly with the Expos/Nationals and Braves. DuBois did not achieve the career success of Larkin or Grissom but his rookie card remains a key piece for A’s team collectors.
Design-wise, the 1990 Topps set featured colorful team-colored borders around each card along with a new photo style that showed more of the ballplayers uniform rather than tight cropped head shots. Manufacturer errors and variations added mystery and intrigue for collectors to pursue including card number mismatches, missing signatures, inverted images and more. Topps produced special ‘Star Stickers’ that could be attached to any card to designate a player’s performance that year such as All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, etc.
The 1990 season saw notable achievements like Roberto Alomar’s rookie season with the Padres, Barry Bonds hitting 25 homers and stealing 40 bases for the Pirates and Willie Stargell’s posthumous Hall of Fame induction. These milestones in addition to the rookie cards, retirements and variations added layers of interest for collectors both young and old to chase after coveted cards to complete their sets. Wax packs of 1990 Topps cards sold for $0.49-0.59 each and the complete 792 card base set could be had by diligent collectors for $50-75 depending on condition.
In the decades since, the 1990 Topps set has grown in popularity and value as a memorable snapshot of that baseball year. Key rookies, variations and stars of the era like Ryne Sandberg, Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan and Ozzie Smith are strong anchor cards. But it’s the storytelling extras like the Stewart retirement card, Rose unnumbered tribute and Sutton honoring that add rich context beyond stats and make 1990 Topps cards a valued release for enthusiasts of the vintage card era. Whether completing a childhood collection or pursuing investment pieces, the 1990 Topps baseball cards remain a staple of the annual Topps issues fans love to collect and reflect upon to this day.
