Ken Griffey Jr. Babe Ruth

kuhlmann

He now sits at 498 home runs at 34 years old. baring injury he will have to avg 40 home runs a year for 5 years. after this year is over with. its not that much of a long shot. Whats your thoughts?

I am expecting to see griffey cards get red hot again here real soon.

fullerfun4

He has to stay healthy and happy, both of which he hasn't had much of recently. He definitely has the time and tools, but how productive has he been over the past few years?

joestalin

40 a season for 5 years or take some roids and do it in 3 years...no home run mark is safe! The whole
team is hitting it!

JS

jrdolan

A lot of Griffey cards are waiting to come out of the closet, where they've been gathering dust for several years. And no doubt many people sold off when he was cold and now will want him back. Those who were patient will be rewarded, just a matter of picking the right time to sell.

Regardless of how many HRs he ends up with, he's assured himself a ticket to Cooperstown. He'll have a career with 600+ taters and he's a great guy and ambassador for the game. But there was a while there when I was wondering ... and I'm a Reds fan! Welcome back, Junior.

DeutscherGeist

I never thought Griffey would be injured this often like in the past years. He has the body type that could have endured a healthy 20 year career. Look at his father. Many in the biomechanical field thought that Frank THomas would wear out becuase he is too bulky, which he did, but was still not injured as often as Griffey. Besides, Thomas looks like he is back on pace with possibly his best season in awhile.

Many thought Canseco could get 700 homers or even Daryl Strawberry or Mark McGwire, but they did not come close nor will they now. Griffey seems to be better off than either player ever was, so he should do well. Remember, Molitor was injury prone too, but came out of it in his last years due to some adjustments.

Griffey has speed, a very good bat swing and a slender athletic physique good for a long productive career. The fact he got injured is such an aberration.

qualitycards

JRDOLAN - I'm not sure that Griffeys graded rookies will ever be as high as they once were, or will even climb up too much. Over the last year or 2 they have been cold, as each year he ends in injury, but there is so many of his graded rookie cards out there, I wonder if there will ever be the demand for them. I just checked the PSA Pop report and his 1989 rookie cards are...

Upper Deck 47,602
Donruss 22,988
Score Tr. 21,614
Topps Tr 56,889
Fleer 35,855

Thats 185,000 PSA graded rookies (most in high grade) then you add the other rookie cards like Tiffanys, Glossy, Debut etc...
and the #'s just climb. Then add the other grading companies pop #'s From Beckett, SGC, GAI etc... And of course, don't forget the ungraded cards, and all the unopened material thats still out there. The late 80's cards are never ending. Today they limit production, and in the 70's and before, there were never the huge glut out there. ..jay

jrdolan

Good points. Of that 185,000, probably 125,000 are 9's or better. And I wonder what percentage of 1989 cards from all companies are still unopened/ungraded. Still, there will be a surge of interest (particularly in 10's) as he passes 500 and investors believe there is money to be made by buying 'em up. Whether they are right is another matter.

srs1a

Good points on his rookie cards; however, there are a couple of more obscure '89 issues -- like Franklin Caramels...PSA didn't grade these initally, but I know I have subsequently seen them in PSA slabs.

I also wonder about his minor league issues....

It seems like just about every '87 Bellingham is at least MINT..I think this may be his easiest minor league card in high grade.

The '88's are interesting. Personally, I love the ProCards Vt Mariners card -- the red one that is always O/C unless it is a counterfeit. I saw Jr. play in Burlington during his very short stay...you could certainly tell that he was headed to better things. I believe that all of the PSA-9s of this card are qualified (OC)...and a very large fraction of the PSA-8s (perhaps all of them?) are as well...there are PSA-7 NQ's. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this card.

Also, the California League AS card isn't exactly an easy card.

The San Bernadino Best and Best Platinum are also nice cards, but again, not that tough in high-grade (if you can find the platinum version)

I think that the San Bernadino is probably the most common of all of them...with plenty of counterfeits in circulation.

I have more than a few of all of these, so am interested in how it plays out.

timc67

I've got about 15 of those '88 Cal League All-Star cards. I've also got 10 unopened sets of the '89 Classic Purple with griffey in it. They are collecting dust in the closet. But, if Griffey can stay healthy and keeps hitting homers, it will be time to get these cards out. It's great to see Jr. hitting again. Lets just hope it lasts.