5/15/20, 9:29 AMNostalgia Boosts Baseball Cards of the ’80s and ’90s - WSJ

Page 1 of 2https://www.wsj.com/articles/nostalgia-boosts-baseball-cards-of-the-80s-and-90s-11589544000?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

The coronavirus has turned baseball into a mere memory. But the combination of sheltering in

place and eBay has made a hot commodity out of something sports collectors normally refer to

as “junk wax”: baseball cards of the 1980s and 1990s.

The face of this new market is Ken Griffey Jr., a Hall of Famer who, like Mickey Mantle before

him, debuted as a teenager to great fanfare and captured the imagination of a generation of

fans. Griffey’s 1989 rookie Upper Deck card has about doubled in value since March. In perfect

condition, the card that was routinely fetching $700 months ago is going for about $1,400 now,

according to paid prices tracked by card-grading company Professional Sports Authenticator

(PSA).

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/nostalgia-boosts-baseball-cards-of-the-80s-and-90s-11589544000

LIFE & ARTS | SPORTS | MLB

Nostalgia Boosts Baseball Cards of the ’80sand ’90sKen Gri!ey Jr. has been retired for a decade but his 1989 rookie Upper Deck card has doubled in value

since March

Ken Gri!ey Jr.’s 1989 Upper Deck baseball card

By Michael Salfino

May 15, 2020 8:00 am ET

5/15/20, 9:29 AMNostalgia Boosts Baseball Cards of the ’80s and ’90s - WSJ

Page 2 of 2https://www.wsj.com/articles/nostalgia-boosts-baseball-cards-of-the-80s-and-90s-11589544000?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

“People are home sorting out their closets,” says avid baseball card collector and MLB pitcher

Pat Neshek, currently a free agent. “They’re reminiscing. A lot of this surge for non-vintage

(pre-1970 cards) are people who are bored at home buying cards they couldn’t have when they

were younger, totally nostalgia driven.”

The cards of other Hall of Famers from the era have also appreciated. Randy Johnson’s highest-

graded rookie card from the same set as Griffey’s has also doubled, to about $100. And Frank

Thomas’s 1990 Leaf rookie card, which could be fetched for $120 in March, is trading at about

$400.

The question is whether this will last. “If demand craters even the slightest bit, the supply will

overwhelm it causing prices to crash,” says owner of Birmingham Auctioneers Scott Russell.

That seems like a reasonable possibility. There are 3,795 perfect Griffey rookies graded by PSA

alone, never mind the other grading companies. And there are 24,123 “mint” cards just below

perfect in quality. The most sought after Mantle card, the 1952 Topps, has only 1,683 in any

grade, according to PSA, just three of which are perfect.

That’s not the end of it. Russell adds, “We’ve sold unopened boxes of all of these products in the

past year not to mention lots with as many as 20 ungraded Griffey rookies. So the graded

population of Griffey rookies, unlike the population of Mantle rookies (the 1952 Topps and 1951

Bowman), still has room for astronomical growth. The majority of Griffey rookies in existence

have not yet been graded.”

And they’ve been cherished by their owners all along. “They weren’t thrown away or destroyed

like so many of the Mantles.”

Plus four other companies made cards in the 1987 to 1991 period, Russell said. “Collectors have

plenty of opportunity to pick up all the Griffey rookies they want. Even if you only wanted an

already-graded perfect 10, there are tens of thousands of cards to choose from.”

So while a Griffey rookie card clearly works as nostalgia, it’s unlikely to continue to keep

working as an investment.

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