The O-Pee-Chee set is identical to the 1991 Topps offering - right down to the Topps 40th Anniversary logo. 1989 Ken Griffey Jr Topps Card 3. But upon 30 years of reflection, that gray-cardboard set marks the dividing line between the traditional baseball card sets issued the 40 years prior to 1991 and the bright, white and slick sets that have dominated the industry in the last three decades. You might also enjoy our Ultimate Guide treatment of 1990 Topps baseball cards, right here. ) After two years of balancing his efforts as a two-sport athlete for the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Falcons, the Yankees finally decided to part ways with Sanders in September 1990. Counting down the most valuable baseball card sets from the late 1990s using the highest recent sale in any grade 9 or below from any grading company (PSA, B. History All-Star Game; A.L.C.S. 1991 Topps was, to be honest, nothing remarkable to my kid self while products like Upper Deck, Leaf and Stadium Club were demanding allowance dollars.. By the time the 91 season began, Smith had already earned 11 Gold Gloves. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. Its the retro-appreciation for a set overlooked in its time. Im familiar with all the cards shown. Its that last cardboard set, tying son to father to grandfather. You can count 1991 solidly in the hit column thanks to the first Topps cards of two future Hall of Famers Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell and Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. While PSA has graded close to 60,000 Desert Shield cards, just about 12,000 check in at PSA 10. I have 6 of those cards, and two of them in mint condition, and the other 4 near mint. What wasnt known at the time was that only vintage cards valued at $50 or less were randomly inserted into packs. I was well into my prime childhood collecting days when the 1991 Topps baseball cards were released. It requires a lot of work, especially if you want to collect the more nuanced and questionable varieties.. You can, after all, routinely find thousands of them on eBay. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. I found about 100 packs of these 91 Topps 40th anniversary in my dads house after he passed. His 368 total bases were actually tops in MLB that year. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2008-2023 The Cardboard Connection. After Jones, other big name stars present themselves. The combination of the low-profile design, the open presentation of the photos and traditional card stock has caused many collectors to come back to 1991 Topps Baseball with a new respect. Card #311 Mickey Mantle is one of the Topps baseball cards with the highest value on the market. Add in the RCs of Bagwell and Pudge again, too, in Traded form. As you can imagine, not all of the soldiers were into these cards. Charles, the West Coast collector, created the blog Junk Wax Gems in 2009. The horizontal layout was perfect in framing Ryan in the final moments of delivering one of his signature heaters. Among the more well-known and difficult variations to discover include the Doug Drabek card (a white inner border rather than a black one), the Dennis Oil Can Boyd card (hand under the flag on the Topps 40th anniversary logo) and the highly sought Mark Whiten card variation, in which Whitens hand gripping the bat handle overlaps the white outer edge of the card. A few of the biggest stars can easily sell for $100 or more. We don't know how big a role nostalgia plays with this one, but it still regularly sells north of $40. Jose Uribe was a league baseball shortstop from 1984 to 1993. Nolan Ryan's "1990 Record Breaker" card is also high up on the list of cards from this set. 25) 1990 Topps Sammy Sosa Rookie Card (#692) Sammy Sosa entered 1990 with designs on a starting job for the first time in his big league career, thanks to a midseason trade in 1989 from the Rangers to the White Sox. You can expect to pay $10 or more for stars in PSA 8, all the way up to $5000 or more for the Tiffany Chipper rookie. Tom Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket /100 BGS 9/10 ($3,800,000) CardLadder. That would change in 1992 as the company would follow the trend of other modern issues and move to a light-gloss style of card. Vintage Topps Cards. Budget: 2017 Ronald Acuna Jr Bowman Chrome Prospects RC #BCP127 SHOP EBAY NOW. 2021 Sports Card Investor, LLC. Filed Under: Modern Sports Card News, Popular Stories, Sports Card News Tagged With: 1990's baseball cards, 1990s baseball rookie cards, 1991 Topps Desert Shield, chipper jones. A Baseball Card Database by Baseball Almanac. Ozzie may be last on this list but he is definitely not least. One of the many hats that 1991 Topps Baseball wears is its reputation as one of the most variation-heavy sets ever created. Total Cards: 792. Guessing the Braves did, seeing as how they chose the Florida native with the first overall pick in the 1990 MLB Draft. He also loves to write about the hobby and has written for Beckett, Topps, SABR and of course, this website. The "All Star" callout at the top with the starry sky in the background adds a very nice design touch to this card. Consider his 1987 season, for example, when he hit 49 home runs, drove in 118 runs and boasted a slugging percentage of .618. Topps relied on a sales gimmick, tied to its anniversary, to entice collectors to the old standby, while still dressed in the familiar, old, gray cardboard. Many of the rarer cards sell for very little since they havent had the right publicity or the legitimization of an entry in the big guides, he said. While most guys would be thrilled with a .317 batting average during an entire MLB season, that kind of performance from Tony Gwynn in 1991 was a bit of a letdown. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. This action shot of a post-swing Griffey doesnt get the props it probably deserves in Juniors canon of cards. Read our methodology . That led collectors everywhere to "chase the Mick" in hopes of landing one of the most coveted cards of all time: the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. How much are YOUR cards worth? Is it that small? This set is especially interesting to me because a master set contains more variations than any other Topps set, before or since (excluding intentional parallels and variations), Charles said. When it comes to the most valuable baseball cards of the 1990s, only the Frank Thomas error exceeds it. He manages a pre-war sports card blog and database at www.prewarcards.com . I have a load of these cards from 91 but who buys them anymore? The error was corrected and most versions of this card are seen with the.618slugging percentage instead. Pitchers with 300 Wins and Their Baseball Cards! Its too bad that Topps unrelenting printer press prevents the majority of the 792-card collection from ever having much value. For the first time since the 1974 Topps set, the company included individual player cards that were oriented horizontally. Here is a look at the baseball cards that have exceeded a million-dollar price tag, including two by one of the sport's top active players: 1. 1990 Topps George Bush USA1 Card #4. As you read through this list, please keep in mind that most cards in this set have little to no value these days. See, in 1990, Topps had issued a set of comic-book bordered cards that marched alongside the garish red of Donruss and the general ickiness of a crappy Fleer set as the three traditional. I have this box set too. That meant several never really made their way into the circulation of collectors. Griffey eventually turned into the Hall of Famer everyone thought he would be and his 1989 Upper Deck rookie card has since solidified itself as one of the most iconic cards in the hobby. For some of those veterans, 1991 Topps will always be the last real baseball card set. The top card in the set is easily the rookie card of Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. 22. His batting average also nosedived to .201 and Tony La Russa, the Oakland A's manager at the time, even decided to bench McGwire for the final game of the season just to avoid his average potentially slipping below .200. Fortunately, the Chicago White Sox quickly gave him a shot and signed him to a three-year deal. And in this guide, we'll take a look at the 15 most valuable. The set also offers several tiers for variation or master set collectors. I have hundreds of cards from this 91 set in plastic holders in my basement. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. Although it's not one of the card maker's most valuable releases, it's one of their most attractive. That means the card needs to be flawless. Given the amount of excitement Bonds was clearly bringing to the game, why did Topps choose to showcase such an explosive player in this manner? I can safely say many, many cases worth of most packing types. Collectors could also enter the grand prize drawing by filling out the back of the game card for the opportunity to win every flagship set that Topps had created in the previous 40 years. For 1991, PSA has graded about 16,000 base cards and about a third that number of their Tiffany counterparts. The 1991 Topps set debuted just as America was engaging in the first Gulf War. Back in 1991, Topps issued them as a parallel to their regular baseball cards. Copyright 2023 SportsCollectorsDaily.com | Web Design by Wickam Groupopens in a new window, Most Watched 2022 Baseball Rookie Cards on eBay, Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards, David Cyclebacks Identification and Authentication Advice, 1991 Michael Jordan Upper Deck Baseball Card Surges at 30-Year Anniversary. We use cookies to improve your experience. But he was also a baseball legend who was on the verge of 3000 hits, and his cards were among the most consistently popular in the hobby. The picture of the legendary pitchers body uncoiled after what we can presume is another heater whizzing past a helpless hitter. Ken Griffey JR HOF 2000 Fleer Focus Pocus 6. Sports collecting news - Sports cards and sports memorabilia industry news. Though most of Henderson's production fell off in 1991, as expected, he still led the AL in stolen bases with 58 and earned his tenth and final trip to the All-Star Game. 1991 Topps #333 Chipper Jones Rookie Card Estimated PSA 10 Value: $85 It may not be quite as valuable as the Mark Whiten variation or Griffey's base card but the Chipper Jones rookie card is easily the face of the entire set. Its hard to believe but the 1991 Desert Shield baseball cards issued by Topps have turned 30. I used to have a running estimate but I couldnt say at this point. I Took No Shortcuts: Jerry Rice Talks Georges St-Pierre Sales Highlights Beckett Pricing Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1991 Topps Baseball, Junk Wax Journeys: 1991 Donruss Baseball Cards, Upper Deck Hologram Baseball Card Box Sets of the 1990s Box Set Boom. Jones rookie card is one of the few notable ones. Don Mattingly was one of the most feared hitters during the 1980s, capable of hitting for both average and power. Aside from batting .325, well above his career average of .276, Ripken also set career highs in home runs (34), RBI (114), OBP (.374), slugging percentage (.566), OPS (.940), OPS+ (162), and total bases (368). If you do not receive the verification code within 60 Seconds, we will send you the activation link again. )-78 including all ABA players and football from 1968-1981. No More Secrets Puzzle Game, Mark Whiten [Hand Inside Left Border] #588. Like the 1991 Bowman, Donruss, Fleer, Leaf, Score, Stadium Club and Upper Deck sets, far too many of them were printed and the market is over-saturated with them. If they do, by very little. The main cards in the set essentially parallel those found in the main 1991 Topps baseball card set. Ungraded & graded values for all '91 Topps Fred McGriffs extended bat stays within the frame while Evans bat breaks all the way through. I'd like to imagine him having just blasted one of his towering home runs by the looks of him in this image Don Mattingly was another one of those players who was on top of every collector's want list back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Topps issued their typical 132-card of traded players and rookie cards in the fall of 1991. Derek Jeter 2000 Topps Gallery Exhibits 3. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. So why is the set so expensive? They must have found their way into the hands of collectors quickly because I remember seeing them for sale at shows at the time. Contact him at [emailprotected]. Anyone have any idea how much a unopened box of 4 decades of baseball cards worth. But we have a fondness for this card because it shows the Wizard showing off his base-running wheels, a skill he doesnt get nearly the credit he deserves. This was the year Topps finally woke up and decided to try to put out a set to try to compete with Upper Deck. In 1990, those numbers fell to .335 and .643, respectively. The card of Jones, an eight-time All-Sar and former Most Valuable Player, has become of one of the more sought after cards in the junk wax era particularly in high-grade condition. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. Of those submitted, eleven graded gem mint 10, 797 mint 9, and 1,460 near-mint to mint 8. Tommy Tom Lasorda Dodgers Topps Signed Card 7. 1991 Topps Jeff Bagwell Astros Rookie Baseball Card. 1 set on the PSA registry with an amazing 759 of 792 cards graded a PSA 10 sold at auction for over $106,000. Check out those clouds! The variety of Topps photography in the set stands out to this day. An earlier Sports Collectors Daily article with a first-hand account from a soldier in the Middle East mentions cards being thrown away and even burned as part of fires. I havent had it graded yet, but Im guessing it will be worth close to $10k if not a little more. Get my weekly newsletter with the latest hobby updates delivered straight to your inbox! By 1991, Mattingly boosted his slugging percentage to .394 and in the following seasons above .400, although barely. Topps may have missed an opportunity to create a more exciting Barry Bonds card, but they definitely didn't miss with Mark McGwire's card. The 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones is the most valuable card in that set and can cost hundreds of dollars in high grade, professionally graded. The most valuable Jose Canseco Baseball Card is the 2020 1A. 0% Thanks to the inclusion of more than 20 Team USA members, the set also boasts rookies of Jason Giambi and Charles Johnson. Who knew that the young man stoically staring at you in this picture would become a 468-homer-hitting, MVP-winning Hall of Famer? No matter what form of packaging a collector purchased, the promotion appeared, exclaiming the chance to pull any card from Topps vast inventory from the previous 40 years. Which Was Your Favorite Old-Time Baseball Cards Publica 1987 Topps Baseball Cards 25 Most Valuable R 1978 Topps Baseball Cards The Ultimate Guide, 1991 Topps Baseball Cards Complete Your Set U-Pick (#'s 1-200) Nm-Mint, 1991 Topps Baseball Cards Complete Your Set U-Pick (#'s 601-792) Nm-Mint, 1981 Fleer Baseball Cards 12 Most Valuable, 1986 Donruss The Rookies 10 Most Valuable, How the 1974 Topps Pete Rose Baseball Card Steamrolled Me Like Ray Fosse, 1998 Topps Baseball Cards 10 Most Valuable, Chipper Jones Rookie Cards Still Scorching After All These Years, 1991 Bowman Baseball Cards - 10 Most Valuable - Wax Pack Gods, 7 Great Ivan Rodriguez Cards Even Old-School Collectors Can Love - Wax Pack Gods, 1957 Topps Baseball Cards 15 Most Valuable, 1967 Topps Baseball Cards 17 Most Valuable, 1959 Topps Baseball Cards 17 Most Valuable, 1961 Topps Baseball Cards 16 Most Valuable, 1986 ProCards Pittsfield Cubs Rafael Palmeiro Left Room for Interpretation Wax Pack Gods, 1998 Upper Deck Final Tribute Captured Eddie Murray in His Second Home Wax Pack Gods, Players with 3000 Hits and 500 Home Runs Wax Pack Gods, Card Traders Near Me: Where to Find Them! Ozzie Smith was an absolute master with his defensive wizardry. What is the value of that card? Cheapest, And Topps answered the challenge a couple of years later with their own premium offering: the "Stadium Club" line. 1 (152 . However, while some of them made their way overseas, there are reports of others remaining here in the states. A short bio is added for those players with enough space. Other memorable portraits are packaged vertically, such as the overhead Benny Santiago shot and the striking from-the-ground-up Wade Boggs photo. I have those 1991 Topps cards how can I get them graded and sell fo.the best price. That was the headline topping an article written by John Leptich for the Chicago Tribune in October 1990, during the first viewings of the new 1991 Topps set. 1993 SP Derek Jeter Rookie Card #279 #2. Contact him at [emailprotected]. Like the 1991 Donruss, Fleer, Topps, Ultra, and Upper Deck sets, large print runs saturated the market with these cards, driving down their values. With that sweet swing of his, he seemed to effortlessly crush home runs left and right. The rise of the Bowman brand dates back to 1927 when Jacob Bowman founded Gum Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And, just over seventy years later, they came close to pulling off an even worse move when they traded Jeff Bagwell to the Houston Astros for reliever Larry Andersen. It also sounds familiar if youre a fan of classic sets from the hobbys history 1953 Bowman, 1957 Topps, 1967 Topps. I have some Topps baseball cards (1988-1991).How do I get the value of these cards? However, the 1991 Stadium Club set will always be remembered as a game-changer for Topps with its unique place in hobby history. In that year Uribe won the Millie Mac Award for his spirit and leadership efforts with his team. Despite that rarity, many of these cards are very affordable. I read it a while ago and because of it, finally picked up a factory sealed set for ~$20 tonight. Be careful if you pursue these babies, though, and watch out for telltale signs like . We are user supported. I started high school in 91 so by late summer I packed all the cards safely away and never checked them out. I have about 30 box or 1991 tops baseball cards. The hobby loved Griffey during the 1990s and it still loves him today, so there's no surprise that his card leads off this list at the top. There were only a handful of cards worth more that $50 during this time. Total Prize Value. Set Links - Overview - Checklist - Teams - Errors / Variations - Hall of Famers - Rookies - Inserts and Related Sets - Comments - Packaging - Pricing Much of it isnt particularly expensive to acquire, which helps to retain the fun element of chasing something so encompassing.. Grade: Ungraded. 2. I always loved how Topps displayed Ryan on this card. Rememberwhen Upper Deck released their debut set in 1989, they changed the hobby forever and forced Topps and other manufacturers to up their game. The Red Sox won the AL East but were destroyed by the Oakland A's in the ALCS and Andersen never pitched for Boston again. Here are the top deals on boxes currently listed on eBay. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. 1991 Frank Thomas Rare Error Back Donruss White Sox Baseball Card 5. Thanks! But why was Nolan Ryan also wearing a tux at card #200 in the checklist? #10 1962 Topps Joe Torre (RC) #218 PSA 10 sold for $15,344 1962 Topps Joe Torre rookie card on eBay Most of the prized rookies from 1991, including Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez, were not issued until the Topps Traded set was released later in the year. As the fortieth anniversary of their first sets 1951 Topps Red Backs and Blue Backs dawned, Topps unveiled a classy, understated base set in the spring of 1991. Many cards are inexpensive and simply not worth the time to grade. The set was also special as Topps celebrated its 40th year of issuing baseball cards. He had incredible range and could get rid of the ball with lighting speed making him one of the best defensive shortstops the game has ever seen. 1991 Topps, still, is the last flagship set from the company to use gray, cardboard stock, a look and feel that has gone the way of paper rituals like penning thank you notes. When I watched Griffey playing during the 1990's, it almost seemed a certainty he would one day be the all-time leader in home runs. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. One collector was also given a complete run of base sets from each year. While some of the sets most memorable moments were of the traditional vertical variety (Chipper Jones), a few of the most famous were horizontal images (Roger Clemens). 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Auto Topps Card 5. I have basketball sets from 1969(? Nope, the Old Gray Mare aint what she used to be. All cards feature a "Topps 40 Years of Baseball" logo to commemorate Topps' 40th year of baseball releases. But there were still all those randomly inserted cards. Plus Bonus Listings! Read our methodology . The 1991 MLB season will probably be best remembered for the epic Minnesota Twins-Atlanta Braves World Series, but the release of this Topps baseball set likely ranks pretty high on collectors list. Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? The 2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady will probably go down as the most iconic football card of all time. As regal as 1991 Topps Baseball is in retrospect, why would kids collect something that looked like their fathers set when so many younger products were calling to them? The Top 10. Well, it depends on where youre standing and what youre holding. Ultimately, Topps slotted Dave Stewart in as card #1 in the set, but I have to believe there is a story behind why they were the only two players who posed in tuxedos. Most expensive baseball cards in history. The image on this card perfectly exemplifies why baseball nicknamed him one of the "Bash Brothers" as it portrays him getting ready to do exactly that: bash the cover off the ball. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of (opened product) cards found in hand-collated sets, collections, thrift store hauls and miscellaneous boxes that I have picked up over the years. The photography and premium look and feel of the cards have held up quite well to this day. That may seem like a lot until you consider that collectors arent too likely to submit new cards unless they think theyre in top shape. Unfortunately, like a switch zapping the lights in a room, back injuries zapped Mattingly's power in 1990 and forced him to miss a large chunk of the season. Sadly, 1991 was the year that Jackson's professional sports career completely derailed after injuring his hip during a playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January that year.