Baseball Card Market Report for October 3-9, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on Ken Griffey, Jr., baseball cards

Oct 11, 2024

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Slugging (and Spending) Like It’s 1999!

Back in 1999, Jose Canseco, Mike Piazza, and Barry Bonds were among the most feared sluggers in the game. Who would have thought back then that Piazza would be the only one of the three to make it to the Hall of Fame, huh?

Or that Bonds would be the only one of the three to make any hobby noise on a regular basis?

Seemed like they were all destined for Cooperstown and forever-hot status among collectors. Fast forward 25 years, though, and you hardly ever see Canseco or Piazza on lists like our rundown of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (see bottom of post).

And Bonds only drops in occasionally.

This time around, though, they’re all there together, mixed into the stew of many, many Shohei Ohtani cards.

And, speaking of guys who were really cooking at the end of the last century…

Checking in on Ken Griffey, Jr., Baseball Cards

Over the last several months in this space, we’ve walked through the baseball cards for some of baseball’s big names with an eye toward pre- and post-pandemic values.

The gist of this series is to get an idea of what types of cards weathered the COVID boom and mini-bust well, and which don’t look so hot here on the other side.

One guy we haven’t tackled yet is one of the biggest hobby names of all: Ken Griffey, Jr.

Well, we recently ran down the top Junior cards sold on eBay in August of 2024 over on our YouTube channel:

And that exercise reminded me that we should probably give Griffey the before-and-after treatment here.

So…

Below are ten of the most high-profile and valuable Junior rookie cards, from his iconic 1989 Upper Deck issue to glossy versions of various base sets, other goodies in between.

For each card, I found selling prices for copies in PSA 10 condition (via the PSA Auction Prices Realized tools) from both late 2019 and from this summer (2024).

Here is what I found:

1989 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr. (#33) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $250
2024 Value: $300
Profit/loss: $50
% change: 20

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. (#548) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $65
2024 Value: $110
Profit/loss: $45
% change: 69

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Fleer Glossy Ken Griffey Jr. (#548) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $125
2024 Value: $175
Profit/loss: $50
% change: 40

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Score Traded Ken Griffey Jr. (#100T) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $45
2024 Value: $65
Profit/loss: $20
% change: 44

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Topps Traded Ken Griffey Jr. (#41T) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $50
2024 Value: $125
Profit/loss: $75
% change: 150

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Topps Traded Tiffany Ken Griffey Jr. (#41T) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $1200
2024 Value: $2500
Profit/loss: $1300
% change: 108

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. (#1) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $600
2024 Value: $2000
Profit/loss: $1400
% change: 233

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey Jr. (#220) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $125
2024 Value: $280
Profit/loss: $155
% change: 124

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Tiffany Ken Griffey Jr. (#220) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $2200
2024 Value: $8000
Profit/loss: $5800
% change: 264

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Donruss Rookies Ken Griffey Jr. (#3) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $70
2024 Value: $175
Profit/loss: $105
% change: 150

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

—

Overall these cards showed a 190% increase in selling price over the last five years, which means they’re hammering down for nearly three times as much now as they were in late 2019.

That means Griffey outpaces most of the other gents we’ve looked at lately, including Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, and Dave Winfield.

No big surprise there, right? Junior is about as “blue chip” in this hobby as a modern player gets.

Now, here are some cards of other blue-chippers, along with some blue-chip hopefuls…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for October 3-9, 2024

(Quick note — this list contains affiliate links to the original eBay listings.)

If you want to see updated 30-day market toppers anytime, we have a couple of resources over on WaxPackGods.com:

Most expensive baseball cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive football cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive basketball cards sold in the last 30 days

Now, on with the show …

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

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