Once blinded by the bells and whistles of the new early 90s premium sets, collectors returned to 1991 Topps to find some of the most dynamic and interesting photos in a flagship set. Copyright 2023, Beckett Collectibles, LLC. I was 13 when this came out and it was the last year I really went nuts buying cards. Copies of the Whiten variation are currently going for $50-$80 ungraded. 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. 1. Giants Signed Topps Baseball Card 2. 1989 Steve Avery Signed Topps Rookie Card Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. I have most of them which is crazy I need help getting them graded I actually have the chipper Jones randy Johnson rookie cards an more all great condition. 1 set on the PSA registry with an amazing 759 of 792 cards graded a PSA 10 sold at auction for over $106,000. Couple that with the wartime conditions under which most of these cards first saw the light of day and that they had to make a long trip home to find their way into American collections, and its little wonder these cards are hard to come by in top condition. During his debut season in 1982, Gwynn barely missed the .300 mark by batting .289 in 190 at-bats over the 54 games he played that year. Is it that small? 1993 Finest Ken Griffey Jr. Refractor #110 #5. Forty collectors who found an X on their Instant Win Game card won a complete set from a random year from 1952-90. But make no mistake in 1991, these were not terribly easy cards to find. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps Archives 1953 Reprint listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. Some of the game's greats had more than one season that could be considered the greatest of their careers. The set also offers several tiers for variation or master set collectors. Anson Whaley is a contributor to Sports Collectors Daily and has been an avid pre-war and vintage card collector for more than 20 years. Total Prize Value. 1989 Ken Griffey Jr Topps Card 3. Awards; Ballparks; College Baseball; Division Series; . Topps did a great job with its All-Star card design for its 1991 set. Many collectors reported opening countless containers without finding a single vintage card, not even a 1989 Topps common. Loved Beckett back then and Im gonna check it out again. 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. This PSA article, in part, details several types of counterfeit Desert Shield cards with fake foil stamps. After Jones, other big name stars present themselves. And he never suited up for the Kansas City Royals again, either, as the team soon decided to release him before the 1991 MLB season. Well past his prime but still pitching at a high level in 1991, it was anyone's guess at how long his career would eventually last. 2022 Bowmans Best Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists and Details, One-Sheet Collections: Best Active NBA Stars Who Have Never Been All-Stars, 2022 Bowman Inception Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists, Odds and Details, 2022-23 Leaf Exotic Basketball Checklist and Details, 2021-22 SP Game Used CHL Hockey Checklist and Details, 2023 GAS Arnold Schwarzenegger: Built to Perfection Trading Cards Carry Some Heavy Weight, 2022 Panini Flawless Collegiate Basketball Checklist and Details, 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists and Details. Not my absolute favorite set of all time, but still an excellent product. Check Tiffany prices on eBay (affiliate link), Check Tiffany prices on Amazon (affiliate link). Vintage Topps Cards. We use cookies to improve your experience. Sanders made sure to rework his contract in the offseason to be available for MLB playoff games in the future and the move certainly paid off in a big way for the Braves. These things were always hit-or-miss in terms of player selection, depending on who was moving around. One of the most important rookie cards of the 1990's, this card is routinely in high demand. 22. Read our methodology . Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? I was lucky enough to find an original George Bush senior in his yale uniform. To put things into perspective, Mattingly led the Majors in 1986 with a .573 slugging percentage and .967 OPS. Its that 40th Anniversary, as collectors from that year recall buying box after box of 1991 Topps, attempting to Chase the Mick, as the company advertised that it had inserted randomly one of every single card it had issued from 1952-91 into individual packs. I used to have a running estimate but I couldnt say at this point. 10 Bo Jackson #600 Despite that rarity, many of these cards are very affordable. Almost every PSA 10 the man has ever been on baseball, football, whatever is considered a collectible. 2000 Topps Traded Miguel Cabrera 2. The Best Topps Baseball Rookie Card from Each Year - 1952-2020 The following list includes a year-by-year breakdown of the most valuable card for each flagship Topps baseball set. Inserted one per jumbo cello pack of 100 cards. You might also enjoy our Ultimate Guide treatment of 1990 Topps baseball cards, right here. ) 2. The 1991 Topps set featured a thin team-colored border inside a traditional thicker white border (goodbye, comic pixels!). And the fact that Griffey Jr. appears on this list twice goes back to what I was saying earlier: he was one of the most popular athletes in the world at the time and collectors wanted any card on which he appeared. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. In 2018, the No. Be careful if you pursue these babies, though, and watch out for telltale signs like . You mention that you plate is small so I wonder if it could be related to the Topps Micro issue that year. That helps to explain some of the rarity of this set. 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Auto Topps Card 5. )-78 including all ABA players and football from 1968-1981. Within ten years, Gum Inc. grasped 60% of the gum production in the US market. Among them are Hall of Fame-caliber All-Stars like Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Jeff Bagwell. 1991 Topps Traded Baseball has a straightforward checklist of 132 cards. At the time, most relied upon local card shops, shows, or mail orders. Derek Jeter 2000 Topps Gallery Exhibits 3. & N.L.C.S. So what are these cards? This is just another case of where the value of a card can be boosted by a simple variation. 3. Because of the sets high profile among other cards from the 1990s, there have been plenty of counterfeits to hit the market over the years. The most obvious problem is there's no way in hell a Jose Uribe card from any year and in any kind of condition should go for $758,000. He'd appear in just 23 games for the White Sox in 1991 before missing the entire 1992 season due to hip replacement surgery. Ken Griffey JR HOF 2000 Fleer Focus Pocus 6. Upper Deck had an advantage over other. Despite losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1992 World Series, Sanders played lights out and nearly helped them to a title before rejoining the Falcons to finish off the NFL season. #18. All cards feature a "Topps 40 Years of Baseball" logo to commemorate Topps' 40th year of baseball releases. What Is the Most Valuable 1991 Topps Baseball Card? Get my weekly newsletter with the latest hobby updates delivered straight to your inbox! While some collectors continued to dismiss Topps amid its latest release Leptich also accused the company of putting out inferior products in prior years others noticed what many collectors wouldnt realize until years after the fact: 1991 Topps is a classic. 25 Most Valuable Baseball Cards 2000: Price List 1. Who needed classic lines and clear, crisp photos when you had freaking design, man? He also hit a personal best 33 doubles, tied a personal best with 28 home runs, turned in his second-highest batting average (.325), and led the American League in stolen bases (65). Find out for yourself with our FREE checklist to guide you step-by-step. Because there are nearly 800 cards, obviously. For Cal Ripken Jr., though, there is no question: the 1991 season was his career year. Whiten played 11 years in the Big Leagues but was never a star. 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. 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. Topps also used the horizontal layout a technique it still uses in flagship today to produce striking portrait cards such as Roger Clemens propped up against the Fenway Park scoreboard. At the time of its release, more than a few viewed 1991 Topps Baseball as a dowdy, stuck-in-its ways, all-too-traditional release. The fact that this gem from Gwynns 10th season has a $60 sticker today isnt quite as amazing as some of the Padres legends hitting stats, but its still impressive enough. 1989 Topps Randy Johnson Rookie Card 4. I remember he seemed to hit and run with a distinct style and grace and you can see that coming to life in this great image of him heading towards first base. The promotion captured the imagination of collectors everywhere as they opened multiple boxes of 1991 Topps Baseball in a bid to Chase the Mick the famed 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card and land the coveted card for free, or at least for the price of however many boxes were opened. We may earn an affiliate commission if you The cards are exactly the same as the normal Topps cards, except for the presence of a gold foil Desert Shield emblem stamped on card fronts. This is his first solo card, so in that sense, this is the true Bench RC. Check out those clouds! On the other hand, Bagwell began his career with the Astros the following season in 1991 by capturing the NL Rookie of the Year Award. 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. So, for the cards on this list to be worth much, they'll either have to be graded by PSA to be in perfect, gem mint condition. But, for a guy with a .338 career batting average and eight batting titles to his name, he and the rest of baseball had been used to a much higher standard of batting wizardry. 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. Towering well over 7 feet from the hill, Johnson was quite the imposing figure during his big-league career. Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. Charles, the West Coast collector, created the blog Junk Wax Gems in 2009. Its the retro-appreciation for a set overlooked in its time. A rundown of the most expensive 1991 Topps baseball cards sold on eBay in April-June of 2022.See the most recent eBay top sellers of 1991 Topps baseball card. What is the value of that card? Track your collection for free. 1991 Topps Micro card list & price guide. Topps issued their typical 132-card of traded players and rookie cards in the fall of 1991. Other superstars like Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken, Frank Thomas, and Greg Maddux can be yours for peanuts or less most of the time. 1 (152 . Budget: 2017 Ronald Acuna Jr Bowman Chrome Prospects RC #BCP127 SHOP EBAY NOW. Incredibly, his play during the first half of the season was far better than the second: As you can see, his production during the second half "tanked" compared to the first half. The most valuable glossies are pretty much who you would expect Chipper, Nolan, Maddux, Ripken, Griffey, Big Hurt etc. The story of Jackson's professional sports career finally came to a close after the strike during the 1994 season cut his time with the California Angels short and caused him to retire for good. Cards have a white border. The 1991 O-Pee-Chee Baseball set consists of 792 cards, each measuring 2-1/2" by 3-1/2". I can safely say many, many cases worth of most packing types. I have a brand new box still wrapped up are they wourth anything. Read our methodology . Outside of Bowman, which was owned by Topps, the 1991 Topps flagship set stood alone as the only set issued that year on gray stock. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. To some veteran collectors, it remains the last true baseball card set and has been elevated in their minds through year after year of glossy fronts and backs. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the list: Upper Deck could not have chosen a better player than Ken Griffey Jr. to lead off the checklist as card #1 of their debut set in 1989. 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 . Im not collecting again till Topps bring back inexpensive cards like they did in the 1980s. Regular cards also cost $1000 if it's in mint condition. And in this guide, we'll take a look at the 15 most valuable. One of the most important rookie cards of the 1990's, this card is routinely in high demand. 1. 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. As with previous Topps Traded sets, the cards stick with the year's Topps design. 1989 Deion Sanders Yankees Signed Card 6. Ungraded & graded values for all '91 Topps Things were a bit more manageable for Sanders since he was at least playing for two teams in the same city, but the two-sport conflict reared its ugly head right when the Braves needed him the most. Not only the 3 main sports but there are WWII cards, celebrity cards (Yvonne DeCarlo), Hopalong Cassidy, etc. One thing to watch out for? But those kids are adults 30 years later and many now appreciate a clean design that may have been too subtle for younger collectors. 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). Still are. Pitchers with 300 Wins and Their Baseball Cards! 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). Plus Bonus Listings! I had them in their original boxes placed in shoeboxes in my closet, in fact in 2019 I offered the entire package to a friend in NY for $1000 plus shipping, fortunately his kid isnt into sports so he said no. Topps used a special 40th Anniversary logo on the cards. Thank you for highlighting such a beauty! Many cards are inexpensive and simply not worth the time to grade. Rating: 7.1 (153 votes) Click here to Rate. That said, prices for graded cards will increase the price in a hurry. Or Hunt for Errors? So there you have it, the ten most valuable 1991 Topps cards in both their base and Desert Shield forms. The record book says yes, seeing as how Emmitt owns most of the career rushing marks that mean anything, and he's second to only Rice in total yards from scrimmage. Henderson's legacy as a Hall of Famer, the game's greatest lead-off hitter, and the all-time leader in runs scored and stolen bases make this card roughly a $50 purchase in a PSA 10 holder. Jose Uribe was a league baseball shortstop from 1984 to 1993. You can, after all, routinely find thousands of them on eBay. 1991 Donruss Original Ken Griffey Jr Error Card 3. By season's end, he added his ninth-straight All-Star appearance, second MVP Award, his sixth Silver Slugger, and his first Gold Glove. Fronts included full color images of players with white borders while backs had the typical statistic-laden layout found on Topps other sets. foil shields that are bigger and brighter than others when compared side-by-side (the real ones are generally the smaller ones), pointy shield bottoms on the Desert Shield emblem (real ones are more rounded), blobby, non-distinct coconuts (theyre clear on real copies), palm leaves that touch shield borders (real ones dont), obscured stars on the flag (more like simple points on some fakes). Ungraded & graded values for all '91 Topps Traded Baseball Cards. Lets start at the beginning and work our way through the rest. But compared to other cards in the junk wax era, the somewhat rare moniker probably fits. I started high school in 91 so by late summer I packed all the cards safely away and never checked them out.