most valuable 1991 topps baseball cards

1991 Topps Jason Giambi Team USA Rookie Baseball Card. And can you believe that the Desert Shield version of this card can sell for thousands of dollars? Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last time he was snubbed, either, as his five All-Star appearances are far lower than they should have been. Heck, even many minor league sets avoided gray cardboard. One of the most memorable cards in the 91 Topps set, this horizontal stunner shows Clemens posing in front of Fenway Parks famed scoreboard. . Though McGwire had built a reputation as a power hitter capable of sending the ball to the moon heading into the 1991 season, he did not live up to it that year. As part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations, Topps included buybacks and buyback redemptions for Topps Baseball cards released between 1952 and 1990. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps Archives 1953 Reprint listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. 1989 Matt Williams S.F. 1991 Topps card list & price guide. 1991 Donruss Jose Uribe Brand New Card 4. A few of the biggest stars can easily sell for $100 or more. Giants Signed Topps Baseball Card 2. The Legacy of Bowman Baseball Cards. Vertical images have long been one of Topps calling cards and this Ryan exemplifies why. 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. KEY: RB=Record Breakers, MGR=Manager, AS=All-Star. I always loved how Topps displayed Ryan on this card. Charles, the West Coast collector, created the blog Junk Wax Gems in 2009. A team logo adorned the lower right-hand corner, and player information sat in an understated bar beneath his picture. Copies of the Whiten variation are currently going for $50-$80 ungraded. Lets start at the beginning and work our way through the rest. And in this guide, we'll take a look at the 15 most valuable. And there are only a couple worth over $300-$10,000. While Topps didnt do anything to move away from their traditional mushy brown cardboard in base sets until 1992, we could always count on Tiffany. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 by Old Sports Cards, LLC. Loved Beckett back then and Im gonna check it out again. All cards feature a "Topps 40 Years of Baseball" logo to commemorate Topps' 40th year of baseball releases. I got my dads card collection going back to the mid 1940s. I have hundreds of cards from this 91 set in plastic holders in my basement. 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. Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter was an avid baseball card collector who said during a 1994 interview that he had every Topps card manufactured from 1959 through 1993 (except 1962) . Some of the game's greats had more than one season that could be considered the greatest of their careers. 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. The big draw is the first-year players. In 1988 he was playing with the San Francisco Giants. The cards were originally intended for soldiers in Operation Desert Shield, a mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia. 1990 Frank Thomas NNOF Rookie Card #414 #3. 1991 Upper Deck #345 Nolan Ryan Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $15 Remarkably, Nolan Ryan was 44 years old when he was pitching during the 1991 season. 21 Surprisingly Cheap: Tony Gwynn 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn was arguably the best pure hitter of his era or perhaps any other. 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. As far as rookie cards go, Jeff Bagwell is still the only key rookie in the checklist. Please enter the verification code that you received on your email. Due to the special nature of this anniversary set and because the errors were caught early enough in the press run, Topps decided to correct a number of the cards. Upper Deck had an advantage over other. Let's take a look at the top 45 most valuable junk wax-era baseball cards below. We dont know how big a role nostalgia plays with this one, but it still regularly sells north of $40. Much of it isnt particularly expensive to acquire, which helps to retain the fun element of chasing something so encompassing.. A separate treatment of each of these four attractions might help explain the continuing appeal of The Last Gray Cardboard Set.. They must have found their way into the hands of collectors quickly because I remember seeing them for sale at shows at the time. https://www.cardboardconnection.com/1991-topps-traded-baseball-cards. 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. 1991 Chipper Jones Topps Desert Shield RC #333 Buy on eBay This has a produced a legion of 91 variation collectors who have been unearthing differences in the set for the past decade, years after it was issued. 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. The guy had just broken out, to say the least, the season before when he appeared in his first All-Star Game while winning his first MVP, Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Awards. 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. The picture of the legendary pitchers body uncoiled after what we can presume is another heater whizzing past a helpless hitter. One of the many hats that 1991 Topps Baseball wears is its reputation as one of the most variation-heavy sets ever created. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. In 1990, those numbers fell to .335 and .643, respectively. Its a perfect card that still sells a handful of times every month. Its like they found old cards in a warehouse and held an auction.. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. 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? Add in the RCs of Bagwell and Pudge again, too, in Traded form. Anyways, we all know that Barry Bonds was anythingbutboring, and the 1991 season saw him add a second Silver Slugger and Gold Glove to his resume while finishing just short of a second MVP to Atlanta's Terry Pendleton. Pretty neat find. Be careful if you pursue these babies, though, and watch out for telltale signs like . Its too bad that Topps unrelenting printer press prevents the majority of the 792-card collection from ever having much value. Whiten played 11 years in the Big Leagues but was never a star. Derek Jeter 2000 Topps Gallery Exhibits 3. 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. But compared to other cards in the junk wax era, the somewhat rare moniker probably fits. The error was corrected and most versions of this card are seen with the.618slugging percentage instead. Track your collection and maximize your profit with Market Movers, the hobbys most powerful sports card pricing platform! Awards; Ballparks; College Baseball; Division Series; . 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). This is just another case of where the value of a card can be boosted by a simple variation. One Million Dollars, the pack advertisement continued. Check Tiffany prices on eBay (affiliate link), Check Tiffany prices on Amazon (affiliate link). Prices for 1991 Topps Baseball Cards 1991 Topps card list & price guide. Among the more popular ones are Ken Griffey, Jr., Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken, Mark McGwire, Frank Thomas, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and others. Nothing against the Boston Red Sox, but despite being one of baseball's most storied franchises, they're also known for a couple of bonehead deals. Im familiar with all the cards shown. Tommy Tom Lasorda Dodgers Topps Signed Card 7. However, while some of them made their way overseas, there are reports of others remaining here in the states. 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. 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. Key rookie cards include Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez. 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. 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. Whether its the wide-angle photo of Dwight Evans following through at the plate or Sandy Alomar Jr. chasing down a pop-up in full catchers gear, arms outstretched, 1991 Topps offers photographs that had never been seen before and in some cases never been seen since. And Topps answered the challenge a couple of years later with their own premium offering: the "Stadium Club" line. However, the Atlanta Braves were willing to try and make things work and signed him ahead of the 1991 MLB season. Baseball; Sets; 1991; Overview; 1991 Topps. The variety of Topps photography in the set stands out to this day. 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. Or, they'd need to be one of the rarer Desert Shield versions Not to be confused with Topps' set of Desert Storm cards which featured military subject matter, the Desert Shield baseball cards were sent to soldiers who were serving in the Persian Gulf War during that time. One of the most important rookie cards of the 1990's, this card is routinely in high demand. 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. As you can imagine, not all of the soldiers were into these cards. Even the population reports are not terribly helpful since a large number of these cards remain ungraded. The rise of the Bowman brand dates back to 1927 when Jacob Bowman founded Gum Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The key to the brand's success lies in the fact that Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookie cards are typically the most valuable and sought after of all rookie cards. 1993 Finest Ken Griffey Jr. Refractor #110 #5. During his sophomore season in the big leagues, 23-year-old Frank Thomas broke out in a monster way on the Southside of Chicago. 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. I have those 1991 Topps cards how can I get them graded and sell fo.the best price. Due to poor sales of the. Ryan was 43 years, 4 months and 11 days old when he threw that record-breaking no-hitter (his sixth) against Oakland on June 11, 1990. So there you have it, the ten most valuable 1991 Topps cards in both their base and Desert Shield forms. This is a classic rookie card and one of the most valuable baseball outfielder cards from the 1960s when found in gem mint condition. 1952 to 1990. However, we also know that many were discarded . 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. If you are looking for information on Beckett Grading, their website it beckett.com/grading. 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. does adding the contest cards to the collection increase its value? And while it is probably less common to find counterfeits of the lesser names, the Jones card, in particular, is often a target to be forged. Among them are Hall of Fame-caliber All-Stars like Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Jeff Bagwell. I have a small printing plate of the of the Ken Griffey Jr. card,have no idea if is real.Please send comment.Sincere Thanks,Mary B. I dont specifically remember hearing of any 1991 printing plates that made it into the hobby, but its possible, given the Topps Archives sales several years back. Plus Bonus Listings! For some of those veterans, 1991 Topps will always be the last real baseball card set. 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 companies made a beeline away from Upper Deck. 3. 2000 Finest Randy Johnson Gold Refractor 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. Mike Mussina and Ivan Rodriguez are a couple of more standouts. 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. However, injuries plagued him as well and his production dropped off drastically in the 1990's. To pick up where the guides leftoff after the majority of the hobby moved on [past] error cards.. I remember those cards distinctly, even if finding them proved difficult. 1969 Topps All-Star Rookie Johnny Bench Rookie Card #95 SHOP EBAY You can go back and forth on which is the actual Johnny Bench rookie card. To honor our troops and maybe give them a tiny taste of home, Topps produced a parallel of their base set, designated as Topps Desert Shield. Heres a closer look at this impressive set that continues to generate collector interest three decades after it was first issued. Topps Tiffany gave us all those things we wanted, as listed above, in complete set form that we could by at a premium. 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. Fred McGriffs extended bat stays within the frame while Evans bat breaks all the way through. Remember, he was pitching in hisfourth decadein 1991 which speaks to his longevity on the mound. 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. 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. It will be blast checking the cards out now for favorites, rookies, errors and all the memories. However, a case can be made for the '68 Topps card; we'll cover that in the next item. To put things into perspective, Mattingly led the Majors in 1986 with a .573 slugging percentage and .967 OPS. 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. 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. 1 Nolan Ryan - Texas Rangers 2 George Brett - Kansas City Royals RB 3 Carlton Fisk - Chicago White Sox RB 4 Kevin Maas - New York Yankees RB 5 Cal Ripken Jr. - Baltimore Orioles RB 6 Nolan Ryan - Texas Rangers RB Long red box 40th anniversary. This was a big motivating factor behind starting Junk Wax Gems. What is the value of that card? The title is a reference to the irreverent nickname given the famous (infamous?) 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. 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. Note to readers: If you purchase something through one of our affiliates, we may earn a commission. You might also enjoy our Ultimate Guide treatment of 1990 Topps baseball cards, right here. ) I was lucky enough to find an original George Bush senior in his yale uniform. Yeah, 1991 Topps Baseball contained those old familiars the record breaker cards, league leader cards and ugh checklists, each issued on gray cardboard for one last time. This unique close-up shot of The Big Unit only adds a different dimension to the mans massive mystique. There were only around 6,500 of the Desert Shield versions produced for each player making them very limited and on top of that, you can imagine how few survived war-time conditions in top condition. This PSA article, in part, details several types of counterfeit Desert Shield cards with fake foil stamps. Ungraded & graded values for all '91 Topps Traded Baseball Cards. 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. His production during the 1980's playing for the sport's most popular team seemed to put Mattingly on an easy trajectory towards a future Hall of Fame induction. 1992 Leaf card list & price guide. Considering his Hall Of Fame legacy and untimely passing, this is very surprising. Price: $1,000. 1991 Topps Ken Griffey Jr Seattle Mariners Rookie Card. 2. He also did backflips and other acrobatics on the field which always amazed me as a young kid. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. His iconic status help keep his baseball cards among the most desirable in any set in which he appeared. Track your collection for free. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the list: 1991 Stadium Club #270 Ken Griffey Jr. Collectors had to go to great lengths to find the cards back then. It was recently sold on eBay for $150.50, thus making it worthy of being on our list of most valuable Bo Jackson baseball cards. 1991 Donruss Original Ken Griffey Jr Error Card 3. In that year Uribe won the Millie Mac Award for his spirit and leadership efforts with his team. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Heres How to Tell Them Apart. The problem, in terms of value for the 1991 Topps set is that the cards were everywhere, and they still are. 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. Fortunately, the Chicago White Sox quickly gave him a shot and signed him to a three-year deal. Nolan Ryan's "1990 Record Breaker" card is also high up on the list of cards from this set. For the first time since the 1974 Topps set, the company included individual player cards that were oriented horizontally. Issued in two 300-card series, the set featured a 600-card checklist that showcased many of MLB's brightest stars and talent in the highest quality manner to date. However, the 1991 Stadium Club set will always be remembered as a game-changer for Topps with its unique place in hobby history. 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. Not only the 3 main sports but there are WWII cards, celebrity cards (Yvonne DeCarlo), Hopalong Cassidy, etc. Read our methodology . Almost every PSA 10 the man has ever been on baseball, football, whatever is considered a collectible. Theres a link to the price guide at the top of this page. Indeed, Topps did unearth many of the old cards for the promotion in its Brooklyn headquarters but it also bought cards from fellow collectors for the contest. Learn more here. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the top ten most valuable 1991 Topps baseball cards: This set was notorious for its numerous variations. 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. Contact him at [emailprotected]. 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. I think its a great promotion, Richard O. Rieger, an analyst for a financial services company, told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. Many cards are inexpensive and simply not worth the time to grade. In addition, the sets featured a super glossy finish on card fronts. 1994 Collector's Choice Baseball Michael Jordan RC #661 One of the biggest stories in sports in 1994 was Michael Jordan switching to play baseball. 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. Ripken's streak has since been broken multiple times. These things were always hit-or-miss in terms of player selection, depending on who was moving around. We don't know how big a role nostalgia plays with this one, but it still regularly sells north of $40. By navigating the site, you agree to the use of cookies to collect information. Like the 1991 Donruss, Fleer, Topps, Ultra, and Upper Deck sets, large print runs saturated the market with these cards, driving down their values. Some of the logos and card backs glow when placed under a black light, demonstrating the resourcefulness and zeal of 1991 Topps collectors to find such an anomaly. 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. 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. 1991 Topps Jeff Bagwell Astros Rookie Baseball Card. 1990 Topps George Bush USA1 Card #4. 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. Ripken was simply on fire during the 1991 season and there was nothing that he couldn't do. That wasnt the case in 1990 and 1991, but you can get some idea of relative print runs based on the PSA Population Report. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 by Old Sports Cards, LLC. That fact probably helps drive the graded card market, too, as having the PSA or BGS stamp gives you at least some assurance you have the real thing. The 91 design offers an element never before seen on Topps cards, instead of merely listing the team name, it utilizes word marks for each club, mimicking the script on the uniform. 2021 Sports Card Investor, LLC. If theres a cooler card capturing MLBs stolen base king in his dust-filled, head-first glory, we probably havent seen it. If you continue to use this site, we'll assume you're OK with that. By 1993, Jackson was back on the baseball field and made a decent comeback to appear in 85 games for Chicago while helping them to the playoffs. He'd appear in just 23 games for the White Sox in 1991 before missing the entire 1992 season due to hip replacement surgery. For this reason, and others, 1991 Topps Baseball is timeless, as it offers a number of attractions as varied as the hobbyists who are collecting the set still.