1989 Upper Deck

Knuckles

I don't get it.. There's always mass amounts of factory sealed sets.. boxes.. cases for sale let alone singles of the Griffey RC and now tons of Randy Johnson RC's. Tons of PSA 10's for each card. Seems to be lots of BGS 9.5 for each of those RC's but yet the Johnson is fetching upwards of $150 US and the Griffey around the same if not more.

I would like a PSA 10 of each card however I can't justify spending that much money on two cards that are hardly rare. Can you?

RipublicaninMass

You know how hard it is to bust packs and get 10's? I am sure the 89 upperdeck with be a valuable set, so maybe it is worth it to croack some pack. Looking for information also, I bought 4 boxes of 89 upperdeck and didn't yeild 1 griifrey? Is there a way to tell if the boxes have griffey's or not? Just the low boxes have rookie stars?

Knuckles

You probably had the 'high' boxes where most of cards are high #'s.. The low boxes contain the low #'d cards.. Griffey.. Johnson..

I checked SGC's population report and there's 106 98's of Griffey RC and 943 96's. Not sure how many PSA 10's exist but I'm sure it's well over how many SGC has graded. SGC is a lot pickier in giving out 98's then psa is about giving out 10's I believe.

They can't be that difficult to pull in a high grade.

easttexascardsandgames

The 1989 Upper Deck cards had a flaking problem on the edges. Also many cards were pulled from factory sets and packs with small wrinkles in the paper. Both my Griffeys I have have them and both were pulled straight from packs. One I discovered before I sent it in the other it came back a 6 only thing I found was a small wrinkle on the back.

RipublicaninMass

Griffey pop's
Psa 9 15012
Psa 10 1036

ldferg

star rookies are found in both hi# and lo#. you have better odds finding a griffey in the lo# as there are only 700 cards to choose from whereas the hi# set has 800. if you purchased 4 boxes from the same case and yielded no griffey's, that should raise a red flag.

DataDriven05

Was there a predictable pattern as to how the packs were laid out in the 89 Upper Decks? Otherwise why the red flag? The packs were "tamper proof" right?

ldferg

yes, there are sequences to these boxes.

bjork73

The one (low series) box I ripped of the stuff yielded one griffey (no Unit) and did have the aforementioned edge issues, and the centering was not the greatest. Even though it was the first "premium" release, good condition is far from a sure thing.

easttexascardsandgames

Yeah I remember you could take a fresh box and open I think it was the lower left pack and then count to the big rookies. Like if you got the last Rookie card in the set in that pack the very next pack was the Griffey . I forget excatly how it worked.

Engineer

I had good luck with some high series packs but here is an old discussion on this topic:

89 UD

Adam

JERO

Keep waiting, Griffey Jr is half the man he used to be. In 2 more years, this card will undoubtably be lower. It has peaked, and now its on the slow ride doooown. I just don't get new cards. The last show I was at there was a guy who prob had a couple hundred rice rookies in PSA 8 for 35 bucks each. Another guy had hundreds upon hundreds of randy johnson rookies. I can't imagine how many 10s of thousands of these there must be out there. yea, percentage wise the 10s are tough, but when you start with 200,000+ cards 1% as a 10 or 9.5, 98, etc... is still 2,000 "perfect" cards. Two thousand. thats like a block the size of a stone in the pyramids! and probably 30 blocks are 9's. And there are still thousands upon thousands of unopened packs and sets out there!!

Keep waiting, the price will continue to slide.

JERO

yankeeno7

I think they are both very overpriced in Gem Mint. The cards are so massively produced. BUT...if you insist on having PSA 10s of each, spending the 150.00 a piece is the way to go....how many boxes and submissions would it take you to get those 10s? The work has already been done for you...and all you may end up with is a few PSA 8 and 9s and still out 500 bucks PLUS a put-load of junk you cant move.

Knuckles

<< <i>Griffey Jr is half the man he used to be >>


Maybe Bonds can give him a little something to remedy that.

jrdolan

There are 15,000+ PSA 9 UD Griffey rookies? And those are just the ones submitted so far to PSA alone. You just know there are still people with 50- or 100-count stacks who have not yet sent them in for grading. Not to mention the unopened material. Ouch.

Makes you wonder if those tales are true about UD cranking out thousands more Griffeys after the regular press run.

Knuckles

jrdolan exactly.. which is why I'm amazed at things like this PSA 9 Griffey UD RC - $500!?!?! let alone the others that go for around $200+.

I just can't believe people are spending that kind of money on such a mass produced card when they could be using the money on a nice vintage Mantle or at least something new that's numbered to a limited # of copies.. Yes it's Griffey.. yes it's his RC.. but still..

CooCoo

jrdolan

That auction you linked to is for TEN Griffey rookies, or $50 each. That's certainly more in line with market reality. Whoever bought them knows Junior has already surpassed the criteria for first-ballot HOF entry, thus hopes to sell high when the time comes. I would worry that 5 years after Junior retires, will these cards be worth even $25.

ctsoxfan

Or, the buyer could sell them this May - when Griffey will be off to his usual hot start (and interest will peak). Of course, by June/July, his season will be over, and the cards will plummet again.