Ken Griffey Jr. and the Enduring Sports Cards of the 80s and 90s

More than 35 years after its release, the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. Star Rookie #1 was PSA's 10th most graded card in 2024. As of January 1, 2025, the card has been graded more than 115,000 times - the most of any card. And while hundreds of thousands of copies are out there, it is the most iconic sports card of the past 35 years.

1989 Upper Deck Star Rookie Ken Griffey Jr. #1 — Photo Courtesy of PSA

Missing Chase Cards Are a Bad Thing for the Hobby

It's incredible to see how cards from over 30 years ago, sometimes more than 40, still make the Top 100 sports cards graded by PSA. Thanks to information compiled by Ryan Stuczynski of Gem Rate, we look back at cards from the 80s and 90s that continue getting graded, enduring in collectors' minds and the marketplace.

$2 Million Vintage Sports Card Collection Sold

The Star Rookie was a monumental success for upstart Upper Deck. While it changed the trading card hobby forever, it also helped shape the memories of young card collectors coming of age.

1989 Topps Traded Ken Griffey Jr. — Griffey's 1989 Topps Traded card is the second-most graded card by PSA with more than 88,000 submissions. His Upper Deck rookie is the most graded card ever. | Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

Rickey Henderson: A 1980s Icon Seen Through His Baseball Cards

But so many other cards helped define an era of the trading card industry as it reached mainstream in the 80s and hit a crescendo in the mid 90s. Almost everyone is familiar with Michael Jordan's 1986 Fleer rookie card. It is the holy grail for many collectors, especially in near-mint condition.

How the *%#$ is Michael Jeffrey Jordan 60 years old?!? Man, my joints are hurting this morning. Here’s my painting of his most iconic card, the 1986-87 Fleer rookie. Image based on the photography of Noren Trotman. Looking forward to painting MJ more in the future. pic.twitter.com/P9F3AcicyP
— Graig Kreindler (@GraigKreindler) February 17, 2023

But the most graded Michael Jordan card is from 1990 Fleer basketball. PSA graded it more than 61,000 times, more than twice that of his rookie year card. The card was released in 1990 as Jordan embarked on his first championship season. The card shows Jordan with his trademark look, dunking the ball with his tongue out.

1990 Fleer Michael Jordan PSA 10 — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

It would only be six years later that yet another iconic rookie card would be created, this time depicting Jordan's heir - Kobe Bryant. Bryant's 1996 Topps has been graded nearly 45,000 times by PSA, the 26th most graded card of 2024. There are almost 8,000 PSA 10s, but they sell on average for a whopping $740.

1996 Topps Kobe Bryant — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

The 90s also provided the rookie card of "The Captain," Derek Jeter, who rose to fame in New York and won championships in a way that hadn't been done in more than 35 years in all of baseball, when the Yankees won an incredible 10 titles from 1947-1962. Jeter's 1993 Topps card is a throwback with an oversized image of the young shortstop superimposed on a baseball diamond.

1993 Topps Derek Jeter — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

Jeter had predecessors, giants of the baseball world who helped carry the sport from the 1980s into a more formally corporatized version of the game in the 90s. Rickey Henderson's 1980 Topps rookie was the 32nd-most graded card of 2024. It is a notoriously hard card to get in a PSA 10. Of the 41,237 times it has been graded, only 25 cards have received the Gem Mint PSA 10 designation. It is the 12th-most graded card in PSA history.

1980 Topps Rickey Henderson — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

The 13th is of the Orioles Future Stars, featuring none other than the incomparable Cal Ripken Jr. This card, featuring two other rookies but with Ripken in the center, has been graded 41,066 times, less than 200 behind Henderson. People forget what a big deal Ripken was and what an event it was to see him break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak in 1995.

1982 Topps Baltimore Orioles Future Stars — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

There are just two baseball cards graded more times than Ripken's and Henderson's rookie cards. They are two of the greatest sluggers - including the greatest ever - who are not in the Hall of Fame because of their use of performance-enhancing drugs in the 90s. They're none other than Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. McGwire's 1985 Topps rookie card in a USA baseball uniform is, in my opinion, the second-most iconic baseball card of the 80s - only behind Griffey's Upper Deck.

1985 Topps Mark McGwire — McGwire's rookie card is an embodiment of the 1980s in America. It is full of hope, youth, and strength. And yet, there is a haunting aspect to the card knowing how much controversy this baseball legend would get into as he captivated the sports world in 1998. | Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

Autographed Vintage Card Market Showing Rapid Growth

While McGwire's rookie card has been graded more than 63,000 times by PSA, Bonds' 1986 Topps Traded rookie has been graded more than 60,000 times. The Bonds rookie card is the sixth-most graded card ever(!) and was the 78th and 83rd most graded card in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

1986 Topps Traded Barry Bonds — Bonds and McGwire, with alternating bats on the shoulder, are a yin and yang, with both playing the two parts of the interconnected forces. | Image Courtesy of PSA

But what about football? Five names stand out from the 1980s: Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, and Barry Sanders. The most graded PSA football card is the 1986 Topps Jerry Rice rookie, with nearly 40,000 cards graded (random thought: Victor Wembanyama's 2023 Prizm already has 40,697 grades!). It is the definitive football card of the 1980s.

1986 Topps Jerry Rice rookie — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

1989 Topps Traded Barry Sanders — Barry Sanders is the second-most graded football card by PSA. It has been graded more than 33,000 times. | Image Courtesy of PSA

Surprisingly, Dan Marino is the most-graded quarterback. His 1984 Topps rookie card has been graded 32,839, just a bit more than Joe Montana's 1981 Topps, which has been graded 32,702 times. It's a testament to Marino's popularity, even though he never won that elusive Super Bowl. The Marino rookie was PSA's 58th-most graded card in 2023. Montana's rookie card was the 78th-most graded in 2024.

1984 Topps Dan Marino rookie card — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder

But wait, what about the 1990s again? I'll give you one more, and that's of Shaquille O'Neal and his 1992 Topps card, which has been graded more than 36,000 times by PSA. In 2022, it was the 2nd most graded card by PSA and the 66th-most graded in 2023.

1992 Topps Shaquille O'Neal rookie card — Image Courtesy of Card Ladder