The 1989 Topps Traded baseball card set was issued midway through the 1989 MLB season as a complementary set to the main 1989 Topps baseball card series. With 132 total cards, the Traded set featured players who had been traded to new teams since the regular Topps set was finalized earlier that year. As with most Traded sets, it provided baseball card collectors the opportunity to get updated cards showing players in their new uniforms on different clubs.
Some notable players featured in the 1989 Topps Traded set after being dealt included Ken Phelps (traded from the Cubs to the Mariners), Jeff Ballard (traded from the White Sox to the Royals), Jack Clark (traded from the Cardinals to the Yankees), and Lee Smith (traded from the Cubs to the Red Sox). Other big names included Orel Hershiser (traded from the Dodgers to the Indians that year), John Franco (traded from the Reds to the Mets), and Lance Parrish (traded from the Tigers to the Phillies).
In total, the set encompassed players from 24 different MLB teams who were included after trades involving 28 separate transactions between teams during the early part of the 1989 season. Each card featured the standard cardboard stock and design elements of the main Topps flagship set but with smaller photos and no team logo shown on the uniforms since many players had switched clubs.
Beyond just updating cards for recently dealt veterans, the 1989 Topps Traded set also served to provide the collecting community its first card issues for several promising rookie and young prospect players who found themselves on new teams due to trades. This included cards for players like Gregg Jefferies (traded from the Royals to the Mets), Kevin Maas (traded from the Pirates to the Yankees), and Dave Rohde (traded from the Angels to the Blue Jays).
In terms of chase cards and ones garnering attention from enthusiasts at the time, one of the more popular items was the Orel Hershiser card since he was fresh off winning the 1988 World Series MVP and Cy Young awards with the Dodgers. His trade to Cleveland represented a big change and his card in an Indians uniform was highly sought after. Other frequently talked about cards included Jack Clark with the Yankees after leaving the Cardinals and Lee Smith in a Red Sox jersey after his time with the Cubs.
The design of the 1989 Topps Traded set largely mirrored Topps’ standard baseball card template from that year with a photo taking up most of the front. What set it apart slightly was a different color border used and placement of the player’s name and team directly underneath the image rather than across the front. On the back, complete statistics from the previous season were provided along with a short career recap. No gum was included since the cards were sold solely in wax packed form.
When released during the summer of 1989, the 132 card Traded set retailed for $1.00 per wax pack with 11 cards inside on average. Availability was initially limited as Topps produced the complementary updated series in smaller quantities than the flagship release which contained over 700 total cards. Strong initial demand led the company to do multiple subsequent print runs that year to keep up with collector interest.
In the years since its original issue over 30 years ago, the 1989 Topps Traded baseball card set has endured as a seminal release that provided fans and enthusiasts a snapshot of the many midseason moves that reshaped MLB rosters. While players’ careers and stats may have changed in the decades following, the cards still serve as a record of where notable names like Phelps, Ballard, Clark, and Hershiser stood at that particular juncture. For collectors of the time and those who have since acquired the set, it remains afun nostalgic reminder of late 80s baseball trades.
