5 valuable and best Ken Griffey Jr. cards
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There has never been a baseball player with a higher approval rating than Ken Griffey Jr. Fans who grew up watching him play understand exactly why he’s so easy to love. The perfect swing, the backward cap, and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for Super Nintendo all helped make “The Kid” the most popular player of the 1990s.
The game came easy to Griffey. When he ruled the baseball universe in Seattle, it felt like he would break every home run record. But after his trade to Cincinnati in 2000, injuries kept him from rewriting the record books.
Griffey still finished with 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves, 13 All-Star selections, and 7 Silver Sluggers. Most importantly, Griffey did it all clean, in baseball’s dirtiest decade. All of this plays into why Ken Griffey Junior's baseball cards remain red-hot 15 years after his retirement. This article will highlight the 5 very-best and most valuable Ken Griffey Jr. cards of all time.
5. 1999 Skybox E-X Century Essential Credentials Now Ken Griffey Jr. /17 #17 PSA 7
Card Background & Significance: Essential Credentials are one of the best inserts put out during the golden era of inserts in the late 1990s. There were 'Now' and 'Future' versions of this 1999 Essential Credential. For the 'Now' cards, the print run is equal to the player’s base card number (so Griffey #17 = /17). For the 'Future' cards, the print run is equal to 100 minus the player’s base card number (Griffey #17 → /83). This numbering structure is confusing, but also a clever gimmick that has helped make both versions of these cards very sought after.
Why It's So Valuable: Essential Credentials are on the Mount Rushmore of Greatest 90s Inserts. The card is valuable because of its scarcity and brand name , but also because the design is stunning. This Griffey features an image of The Kid's iconic backswing with his name is etched shiny metallic foil. This particular copy is just a PSA 7 grade, but it has no obvious faults and excellent eye appeal. A Craig Biggio version of this card recently sold for around $250, which shows just how far ahead Griffey is compared to his peers in the card market (much like Mickey Mantle towers above his era’s stars in the 1950s and 1960s.)
Price (based on most recent sale tracked by Cardladder) : $63,000 (sold September 26, 2025)
4. 1997 Pinnacle Certified Ken Griffey Jr Certified Gold Team Mirror #012
Card Background & Significance: The 1997 Pinnacle Certified set was way before its time when it came to confusing parallels and color variations. Pinnacle gave the first 25 "Certified Gold Team" sets their special "Mirror" treatment, creating an ultra-scarce parallel insert. The "Certified Gold Team" inserts aren't that rare, but the copies with the special "Gold Mirror" treatment are. One of these special Gold Mirror Ken Griffey Jr. cards showed up in one out of every 36,000 packs.
Why It's So Valuable: 1997 Pinnacle Certified is a very popular set among hardcore 1990s baseball card collectors, despite the fact that Pinnacle never officially published the print runs for many of the Mirror parralels. That being said, the cards featuring the Mirror Gold finish (like this Griffey) were numbered to just 25. The reflective gold mirror treatment, now common in modern card design, was groundbreaking and visually stunning for its time.
Price : $65,322 (sold September 26, 2021)
3. 1998 Metal Universe #161 Ken Griffey Jr. Precious Metal Gems (PMG) /50 PSA 8
Card Background & Significance: The first Precious Metal Gems (PMGs) debuted in 1997, quickly becoming the gold standard for hobby scarcity, design innovation, and prestige. The Metal Universe brand came back with new PMGs in 1998 and serial numbered each card to 50. These cards are extremely prone to chipping and surface scratching because of their foil-metal surface. The Griffey card has mountain imagery in the background, symbolizing his towering dominance over the sport in the 1990s.
Why It's So Valuable: Precious Metal Gems are the kings of 1990s baseball card inserts and Griffey was the king of 1990s baseball. With only 50 of these made, the prestige and scarcity of this card makes the high price understandable. Since these cards were prone to chipping, a PSA 8 version represents a very high-grade copy. There are only six PSA 8 copies of this card. One PSA 8.5 and one PSA 9 represent the highest graded copies of this card.
Price : $72,500 (sold September 15, 2023)
2. 1998 Upper Deck A Piece Of Action 3 Ken Griffey Jr. Patch Auto /24 #KGS BGS 8.5
Card Background & Significance: This card represents one of the first ever examples of a game-used patch/autograph combination on a baseball card. This concept was revolutionary in the late 1990s and it is now such a big part of the baseball card hobby. A Piece of the Action 3 represents Upper Deck’s first true foray into the super high-end sports card market. (Now made famous by Upper Deck's Exquisite cards in the early 2000s). They serial numbered each these patch-autos to 24.
Why It's So Valuable: The card has an on-card autograph from the hobby king and a piece of his uniform that he wore in a game. Only 24 of this card exist, and this BGS 8.5 represents the highest graded copy of the card. This is the greatest patch auto card of Ken Griffey Jr. in existence.
Price : $84,000 (sold October 21, 2022)
1. 1998 SkyBox E-X 2001 Ken Griffey Jr. Essential Credentials Now /10 PSA 9
Card Background & Significance: This is the Crown Jewel of Ken Griffey Jr. cards. The Essential Credential cards made their debut in 1997, but the mind-blowing design of these 1998 E.D. cards make these the most popular versions among collectors. For the 'Now' cards, the print run is equal to the player’s base card number (so Griffey #10 = /10). For the 'Future' cards, the print run is equal to 100 minus the player’s base card number (Griffey #10 → /90).
Why It's So Valuable: This card checks so many boxes. There are only 10 copies in existence. It has a striking green color-match design that mirrors Griffey’s Mariners jersey. Additionally, the PSA 9 grade makes this the highest graded copy of this card in existence. This prestigious Essentials Credentials card has all the ingredients to make this the most valuable Ken Griffey Jr. baseball card in the world.
Price : $280,600 (sold May 17, 2025)
David is a collector based in Georgia and a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and New York Knicks. He is an avid sports card collector with a strong passion for vintage baseball cards and vintage on-card autographs. David enjoys obtaining autographs through the mail and loves connecting with other knowledgeable collectors to discuss the history and evolution of the hobby. He also previously wrote about the New York Giants for GMENHQ.com