The 1989 Topps baseball card set was the 68th annual issue by Topps. It marked a changing of the guard in Major League Baseball as several veteran stars were entering the twilight of their careers while new young stars began to emerge. This transition is reflected in the cards from the set.
The set totals 792 cards and features photography from various photographers including BPI Communications and Topps staff photographers. Notable rookie cards from the set include Ken Griffey Jr., Benito Santiago, Gregg Olson, and Frank Thomas. Griffey and Thomas would go on to have Hall of Fame careers while Santiago and Olson also enjoyed solid MLB careers. The Griffey Jr. rookie is one of the most coveted and valuable cards in the entire set.
On the veteran side, the set includes the last or among the last Topps cards for Don Mattingly, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Mike Schmidt, and Nolan Ryan. All five of those players were future Hall of Famers in their peak years. Mattingly’s card was significant as his playing career would be cut short by back injuries over the next couple seasons. Murray and Schmidt were still producing at a high level in 1989.
Some other notables among the veteran players featured are Orel Hershiser coming off his record 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988, Kirby Puckett in the middle of his excellent career, and Roger Clemens who was emerging as the best pitcher in baseball. Clemens’ card shows him pitching for the Red Sox still before he went on to dominate for years with the Blue Jays and Yankees.
Rookie cards that have held value over the years besides Griffey include Sandy Alomar Jr., Gregg Jefferies, and Derek Bell. Jefferies was a highly-touted prospect who did not live up to expectations while Bell and Alomar had long, respectable MLB careers. Other players featured in the set going on to have Hall of Fame careers include Barry Larkin, Tom Glavine, and Tim Raines.
The design elements of the set featured a photo on the front with statistics and a bio on the back. Topps experimented with some design tweaks throughout the years of the 1980s including banners, logos and colors used. The 1989 set utilized a classic straightforward photo centered on the front with a Blue and Red color scheme. This was the last Topps set to feature the classic company logo of an illustration of a boy swinging a baseball bat.
In terms of condition, the Griffey Jr. rookie is among the toughest cards to find in gem mint condition due to its popularity even at the time of release. Other notable rookie cards that are frequently found well-centered and in high grade include Santiago, Olson, and Thomas. The veteran cards of Mattingly, Schmidt, Murray, Hershiser and Raines also seem to grade well consistently when compared to the rookies.
The 1989 Topps set is seen as a true “transitional” set between the stars of the 1980s and those who emerged in the 1990s. While the huge names from a decade earlier were featured, the arrival of talent like Griffey, Thomas, Larkin and Glavine signaled changes ahead as MLB neared the turn of the century. The cards remain popular with collectors today and are a historical marker of the evolution of the game during that period. Prices have appreciated greatly over the decades, especially for key rookie cards, making a complete set a sizeable investment even in lower grades. The 1989 Topps baseball cards preserve the talents and faces of this period forever in the size of a trading card.
