What a Card

Sports Illustrated published an article recently about Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 1989 Upper Deck baseball card, the holy grail of rookie cards at the time.  The article discussed the sharp decline of the baseball card industry that started in the early 90's.  In 1986, when I first started collecting cards, there were three companies that dominated the market: Topps, Donruss, and Fleer.  Within 3 years, there were countless imitators with countless gimmicks - Sportflics, Upper Deck, Score, et al. - as well as premium line extensions from the big three that completely saturated the market.

I collected so many cards that I figured I'd be rolling in the dough by now.  Back in the day, the Beckett Baseball Card guide valued common players' cards from the 50's and 60's at $ 5.00 or better per card.  I used to buy cards constantly under the assumption that I was planning ahead financially.  I don't even know where you can buy baseball cards anymore.  There used to be no shortage of card shops and shows, and even the most bare bones gas station would have packs for sale - mostly Topps, complete with the stale, waxy stick of gum that would leave a grease mark on the last card in the pack if it sat on the shelf too long.  These days, Topps has a corner on the market, having inked a deal with Major League Baseball that gives the company exclusive rights to team trademarks and logos.  I know Topps doesn't have all of their eggs in the baseball card basket, but I would be concerned about the viability of a product with limited demand and no competition.

The promise of a young rookie used to be the primary driving force behind demand.  Ninety percent of the time, the rookie would either be a bust in the majors or at most have a couple of big years before a bigger decline.  Do any of these names ring a bell? Chris Sabo, Todd Van Poppel, Wally Joyner, Matt Nokes, Gregg Jefferies...anyone...anyone?  Yet these were the stars of tomorrow that drove kids to blow every dime they had on a pack of cards.  Snag just one of these prospects preserved on cardboard, and you'd easily get a return on the 50 cents that you paid for the pack; mostly, the rookies and star players would be valued around a dollar or two.  The exception was the Griffey Upper Deck rookie card.  At the time, it would've been worth around $ 25. 

The Griffey card is arguably the card of a generation.  Even though the average price still hovers close to the original value, a quick search on Ebay found that the card is currently being auctioned for up to $ 2500, depending on the "grade" (sports card grading is a relatively new money racket that charges you to have your cards officially graded).  I never got my Griffey.  I could have easily purchased one individually, but I couldn't abandon the thrill of the chase.  Tearing open a random pack of cards and finding "the one" would've been like finding Willie Wonka's golden ticket.  And though the Golden Griffey never showed up in my stacks, I have some very fond memories of the pursuit.