The 1989 baseball season saw many exciting plays and memorable moments. As fans followed their favorite teams and players throughout the summer, they looked forward to the release of the new baseball cards at the end of the year. Baseball cards were a big part of sports culture in the late 80s and collectors anxiously awaited what the 1989 cards would bring.
Two major companies dominated the baseball card market in 1989 – Topps and Donruss. Topps had been the monopoly brand in baseball cards since the 1950s and continued to be the most popular set. Meanwhile, Donruss was making a name for itself as the main competitor to Topps and produced popular and high-quality cards. Both companies put out preview magazines in the offseason to give baseball fans a look at what players and cards would be included in their upcoming releases.
The Topps magazine was called “Preview ’89” and featured profiles of major players and rookie cards to watch for. The cover highlighted slugger Mark McGwire of the Oakland A’s, who was coming off a season where he led the American League with 32 home runs at age 25. Inside were articles and photos previewing the full 792-card base set Topps was preparing. They also showed off new subsets like Topps Traded and Glossy All-Stars. These additional inserts featuring traded players and glossy photo versions of stars were popular chase cards for collectors.
Donruss also published a magazine called “Donruss Presents” to preview their 1989 baseball cards. Their base set would contain 717 cards after losing the MLB license the previous year. They regained it for 1989 and produced high-quality on-card photos. The magazine teased some of the big rookie cards collectors could find, like Jerome Walton and Gregg Jefferies of the Chicago Cubs. It also profiled veterans like Nolan Ryan, whose record-setting career was chronicled in many of his Donruss cards over the years. Subsets in the 1989 Donruss set included Arena Baseball and Diamond Kings parallels.
The magazines gave an early look at the rookie sensation cards that would drive much of the collecting hype. Ken Griffey Jr. was primed for stardom in his first full season with the Seattle Mariners at age 19. In “Preview ’89”, Topps showed one of Griffey’s base rookie cards and their Traded update with him sporting a Cincinnati Reds uniform after a late-season callup in ’88. Meanwhile, “Donruss Presents” highlighted Griffey’s impressive rookie stats from ’88 and placed him among the rookies to watch in their ’89 release. His cards would become two of the most coveted and valuable of the year.
Another major rookie highlighted was a 23-year-old shortstop with the Chicago White Sox named Ozzie Guillen. Topps and Donruss both ran features on Guillen, who made his MLB debut late in 1988 but was expected to have an everyday role in 1989. His aggressive playing style and enthusiasm for the game were noted. Collectors were tipped off early that Guillen’s rookie cards could become very popular. His success and 16-year career only added to the longterm value of those ’89 rookie appearances.
The magazines also looked ahead to potential future stars just starting their professional careers. Topps included an article profiling the talents of 18-year-old Kirby Puckett, who had just finished his first full minor league season in the Minnesota Twins system with a .329 batting average at Class A. While he was still likely a year or two away from the majors, Puckett was identified as one to watch develop. This insight gave early readers a head start on recognizing his potential before his MLB debut in 1984.
In addition to highlighting the big rookie names and stars of 1989, the magazines from Topps and Donruss also served an important historical purpose. They provided valuable context for documenting the seasons, games, and careers chronicled in that year’s card releases. Reading about players’ 1988 stats and projections for 1989 in the previews gave deeper meaning to the images and stats printed on the cards. For collectors and fans approaching 30 years later, they offer a fascinating snapshot into the excitement and storylines of that baseball year.
When the 1989 Topps and Donruss card sets were finally released to the public later that year, they captivated sports card collectors and delivered on showcasing the players previewed in the magazines. Rookie stars like Griffey Jr. and Guillen lived up to the hype and their cards became highly sought-after by fans. Meanwhile, veterans like Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, and Nolan Ryan saw their careers weiter chronicled in the annual issues. The magazines served as a successful marketing tool for building anticipation ahead of the new baseball card releases and allowing collectors to learn about the season’s stories before they hit packs and boxes that winter. They remain an invaluable historical source for understanding the 1989 baseball year from a fan and collector perspective.
