1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr PSA Graded Card Rainbow
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The 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr card #1 is by far the most collected modern baseball card. Collectors young/old, veteran/novice, rich/poor all seem to make space in their personal collections for this card. This Griffey rookie card has had countless stories written about its origin and all the fun facts connected with it.
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. fans continue to find new and unique ways to collect. This passion has driven a surge in the value of Griffey's PSA 10 and lower-grade versions, energizing and sometimes confusing the hobby.
RELATED: Iconic Ken Griffey Jr 1989 Upper Deck PSA 10 breaks $5k barrier
Griffey Collectors Go Hard!
With a limited number of brands in 1989, Griffey collectors have no shortage of access to his base Rookie cards from Topps, Score, Bowman, Fleer, and Donruss. His rookie card from these 1989 sets can be easily found in the wild for anywhere from $5-$10.
The gem of 1989 Griffey rookies is the Upper Deck card. Due to the lack of numbered cards and different color variations in 1989 options for passionate collectors were limited. Hardcore Griffey fans have had to get creative in expanding and curating their collections - buying multiple PSA slabs of this card has become one of the newer and more popular approaches!
The 1989 Upper Deck Griffey has been graded by PSA over 125,000 times, and that number continues to rise each month. With such a massive number of slabbed copies in circulation, hardcore Griffey collectors have created their own "1989 Upper Deck Griffey PSA rainbow".
What is a PSA Rainbow?
A "rainbow" of a certain card in the hobby refers to when a collector acquires all the different colored version of a specific card of their favorite player. Rainbows of players like Tom Brady, Lebron James and Shohei Ohtani can fetch big bucks when completed.
For 1989 Upper Deck Griffey fans, since no color variations exist, they've created the PSA 1-10 "Rainbow," also known as the 1-10 Ladder. Completing the Rainbow is a significant accomplishment and is often celebrated with social media posts showcasing the full rainbow in its entirety.
A PSA 2 is worth how much?
With the recent increase in price and popularity of this card, collectors new to the 1989 UD Griffey PSA market may be surprised by the price of some of the lower-numbered grades.
PSA 1 and PSA 2 versions consistently sell in the $350-$475 range. This is most likely due to the low population counts of both grades. In Griffey groups and forums, low-grade PSA copies consistently sell quickly at these prices.
As the market for the PSA 10 version of this card climbs into the $4,000-$5,000 range, collectors are buying and grading Griffey rookies at a consistently rapid pace.
Griffey continues to entertain and captivate baseball card collectors years after his playing career has ended. For older millennial fans, this was the card, and it will hold a nostalgic place in their hearts and minds for years to come. Griffey still entertains with his smile and positive energy, but now, rather than with his swing, he does it through his camera.
P. Arvin Parker is a lifelong collector of all things sports and pop culture. He is a Minnesotan, a Veteran, and an Ojibwe man who lives and dies by all things Minnesota. After spending the last 20 years working in the mental health field, he has reignited his love for collecting. His passion for the hobby centers on the people and stories of the world of collectibles.