1990 Leaf Rookie Cements Slugger Frank Thomas as a Hobby Legend
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It's not a Topps flagship card and its value is hurt by the overproduction of the Junk Wax Era. Still, the 1990 Leaf rookie card of Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas stands tall 35 years later as one of the definitive cards of the decade.
What separates Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas from other superstars who were in the prime of their baseball careers during the sports card hobby’s Junk Wax Era of the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s is that his most iconic rookie card is unattainable for most collectors.
According to GemRate, only 449 copies of the “No Name on Front” variation of Thomas’ 1990 Topps (#414) flagship rookie have been graded by either PSA (302), Beckett (125), SGC (17) or CGC (5). The card is rare and comes with a hefty price tag; a PSA 8 copy sold on eBay for $15,000 on June 9, while the most recent PSA 5 went for $6,300 in an eBay auction on May 25.
Thomas checks a lot of boxes for collectors across the hobby spectrum, making him a highly collectible player. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot (earned 83.7 percent of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America in 2014), Thomas is tied with Willie McCovey and Ted Williams for 20th on Major League Baseball's all-time home run list (521). He’s one of only 14 players in baseball history to win back-to-back MVP awards (American League MVP in 1993 and 1994) and he’s one of the most notable sluggers from baseball’s Steroid Era who hasn’t been implicated in scandals related to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Related: Frank Thomas Gives Away Rare No Name Rookie Card at Topps Rip Night
On top of the astronomical print runs during the Junk Wax Era, Topps, Donruss and Fleer weren’t the only baseball card manufacturers. Thus, Thomas is on the rookie checklist in a bevy of 1990 products, including Topps Tiffany (#414), Bowman (#320), Bowman Tiffany (#320), Fleer Update (#U-87), Score (#663) and Score Traded (#86T).
The Thomas rookie with enough going for it to be a worthwhile choice for collectors of all budgets, however, is his 1990 Leaf rookie card (#300). While Topps went with an image of Thomas in his Auburn University uniform for his flagship rookie card, Leaf’s action photo of Thomas with the Chicago White Sox, who selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft, is one of the reasons the card makes a compelling case for a place on the Mount Rushmore of Junk Wax Era baseball cards.
Like most notable Junk Wax rookie cards, Thomas’s Leaf card has a high population, with 23,691 copies graded by PSA and a GemRate universal population of 32,585. Leaf’s first Thomas card also has a higher percentage of PSA 10 copies (4,764) than Thomas’ Topps flagship card (3,882 copies of the 25,061 graded by PSA).
Related: Five Impossible Baseball Cards of the Junk Wax Era
Like most notable Junk Wax rookie cards, Thomas’s Leaf card has a high population, with 23,691 copies graded by PSA and a GemRate universal population of 32,585. Leaf’s first Thomas card also has a higher percentage of PSA 10 copies (4,764) than Thomas’ Topps flagship card (3,882 copies of the 25,061 graded by PSA).
Still, Card Ladder data shows the Leaf card is more frequently transacted and has a higher price tag than the Topps card.
According to Card Ladder, the most recent PSA 10 sale of a Thomas Leaf rookie card was for $182.50 on June 8. The value of PSA 10 copies has increased by more than 14 percent over the last three months, based on 22 sales verified by Card Ladder.
With a value of $191 and a market cap of more than $909,000, the PSA 10 Leaf towers over Thomas’ PSA 10 Topps rookie card. Card Ladder’s most recent verified sale of Thomas’s flagship rookie was for $82 on eBay on June 20, contributing to a market cap of more than $401,000.
The PSA 10 version of the Thomas’ Topps rookie card is up more than 87 percent since the end of March, which is based on 18 Card Ladder-verified sales. Nevertheless, Thomas' highlighting of Leaf’s breakout product release in 1990 is a significant reason why the card remains sought after 35 years later.
Throughout the 1980s, Leaf’s place in the hobby was in Canada, serving a similar role to Donruss, as the company’s Canadian release, much like O-Pee-Chee had for Topps. Heading into a new decade, Leaf started anew with their version of what Upper Deck brought to market in 1989, taking the hobby by storm with glossy images on the thicker cardstock framed by a timeless design.
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Leaf produced a sleek, premium product that’s held up aesthetically throughout multiple decades. More than 30 years after Leaf debuted the 1990 baseball design, the company’s use of the template in ultra-modern releases speaks volumes about the set’s status as a classic within the hobby.
Though Thomas’ Leaf rookie card is readily available on the singles market, hobbyists wanting to experience the thrill of pulling one from a wax box can hunt for the “Big Hurt” without breaking the bank.
Thomas and Hall of Famer Larry Walker (#325) headline the rookie chases in 1990 Leaf Series 2 hobby boxes, which sold for an average of $139 based on five Card Ladder-verified eBay sales in June. Three eBay auctions for Series 2 boxes from June 2-4 were verified by Card Ladder, with the boxes selling for $130.27, $91 and $88.
-1f9b5aba42acf122a9de17edfe18f6ad.jpeg "Jeff Howe")
Jeff Howe is a sports writer with over two decades of professional experience contributing to ESPN.com, Rivals.com and the Sporting News, among other publications. He currently reports on the Texas Longhorns for “On Texas Football” after covering the Longhorns for 247Sports and CBS Sports. His hobby journey started when he was 6 years old, hanging out at his dad’s card shop and collecting cards alongside his two brothers.