Alright, let me tell you about my little adventure the other day. I was rummaging through some old boxes up in the attic, and bam! Found my stash of baseball cards from back in the day. Seeing all that cardboard brought back memories, especially the Ken Griffey Jr. cards. I specifically zeroed in on the ones from 1990. Got me thinking, wonder what these are actually worth nowadays?
Getting Started – The Big Sort
First thing I did was haul the box downstairs. Spread everything out on the dining table. Man, I had quite a few! I started pulling out just the Griffey Jr. cards marked 1990. Had to separate them out by brand, you know?
- Topps: Found a bunch of these. Card number 336, I think. Pretty standard looking.
- Fleer: Yep, had some Fleer Griffeys too. Different design, same year.
- Donruss: Pulled out the Donruss ones. Recognised that design immediately.
- Score: Had a good stack of the Score cards.
- Upper Deck: Found the Upper Deck Griffey from 1990 as well. Not the super famous ’89 rookie, mind you, but the ’90 card.
So I had these little piles, all Griffey, all 1990, but different makers.
Taking a Closer Look – Condition is King
Next, I knew I had to figure out what kind of shape they were in. This is super important, maybe the most important part. I grabbed a good light and started looking at each card real close.
What I looked for:
- Corners: Were they sharp? Or were they fuzzy, bent, or rounded? A lot of mine were okay, but definitely not perfect. Some looked a bit soft.
- Edges: Checked for any dings or chipping along the sides. Smooth edges are what you want. Found a few little white spots on some.
- Surface: Looked for scratches, print spots, stains, or any creases. Held them under the light, tilted them around. Some had faint print lines, common for cards back then.
- Centering: How well was the picture centered on the card? Looked at the borders on the front and back. Some were pretty off-center, much thicker border on one side than the other.
Honestly, most of my cards were what you’d call ‘good’ or ‘average’. They weren’t trashed, but they weren’t crisp like they just came out of the pack either. Showed signs of being handled back when I was a kid.
Figuring Out the Value – The Hunt
Okay, so I had my sorted piles and a rough idea of their condition. Now, how much cash are we talking? This is where I had to do some digging.
I went online. Didn’t just type it into a search bar and believe the first thing I saw. I went to those big websites where people buy and sell cards, the auction places and marketplaces. The trick here, and this is important, is to look for cards that have actually sold. Not just what people are asking for. Asking prices can be all over the place, totally unrealistic sometimes. I searched specifically for “1990 Ken Griffey Jr. Topps SOLD” or “1990 Ken Griffey Jr. Fleer SOLD” and so on for each brand.
I also looked around for some sports card value websites. There are sites dedicated to tracking this stuff. Again, looked for recent sales data if I could find it.
It took a while, clicking through listings, comparing my card’s condition to the pictures of the ones that sold. It became clear pretty quick that unless a card was in absolutely perfect, top-notch shape, the value wasn’t huge.
What About Grading?
Then there’s the whole professional grading thing. You know, where you send your card off to a company, they check it super closely, and seal it in a plastic case with a grade, like a 10 (Gem Mint) or 9 (Mint). A high grade, especially a 10, can make a common card suddenly worth way more. I looked at the prices for graded 1990 Griffey Jr. cards.
A PSA 10 or BGS 9.5 (those are grading company names) definitely fetched more money, sometimes quite a bit more, especially for the Upper Deck one. But getting that perfect grade is tough, really tough. Looking at my cards again, even the best ones probably wouldn’t get a 10. Maybe an 8, possibly a 9 if I was lucky on a couple. Considering the cost and hassle of sending them in for grading, it just didn’t seem worth it for most of them.
So, What’s the Verdict?
After all that sorting, checking, and searching, I found out that most of my 1990 Ken Griffey Jr. cards aren’t lottery tickets. Why? Because they made a TON of cards back in the late 80s and early 90s – folks call it the “junk wax era” for a reason. There are just millions of these cards out there.
Basically:
- Most raw (ungraded) 1990 Griffey cards in average condition are worth very little. Maybe a buck or two, sometimes less.
- Cards in really nice, near-perfect shape might get a bit more, maybe a few dollars.
- Only the absolute perfect, professionally graded Gem Mint 10 examples really command significant money. And those are super hard to find or get.
It was actually a fun process, going through the cards and doing the research. Bit of a trip down memory lane. No early retirement plan found in those boxes, but hey, it was cool to reconnect with those old cards and figure out their story in today’s world. Good to know what I’ve got, even if it’s mostly just for the memories.
