Rickey vs. Griffey: The Battle for 1980s Rookie Card Supremacy
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The 1980s was the Decade of the Rookie Card. That's not to say there haven't been great rookie cards, or even better rookie cards, in other eras. It's more that the 1980s was the decade when rookie cards shed their novelty status and rose up to take over the Hobby entirely, a stronghold that remains firmly in place today. Over the course of the decade, collectors practically killed for, which is to say they paid more than a dollar for, first-year cards straight out of the pack if the players involved were Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly, Dwight Gooden, or Bo Jackson, not to mention Ron Kittle, Gregg Jefferies, Jerome Walton, and Todd Zeile. In the end, however, two cards have stood the test of time better than all others: the 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson and the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr.
RELATED: Top Five Minor League Cards of Ken Griffey, Jr.
Better Player?
Both Griffey and Henderson were unquestionably elite, as affirmed by their first-ballot Hall of Fame status. Griffey was literally one of the best all-around players of all time, a five-tool player who could just as easily win it with a walk-off as rob you of a homer. Henderson, for his part, was undoubtedly the game's greatest base stealer, but there was far more to his game than just thievery. After all, he tallied a career on-base mark above .400 and scored more runs than any player ever.
For adherents of lifetime WAR as the ultimate adjudicator, Rickey tops Junior by a large margin. In fact, Rickey practically beats out the Griffey father-son tandem on his own. A similar story is true as far as peaks are concerned. Rickey not only has the two best single seasons among the pair but also beats out the Kid in the Jay Jaffe-developed JAWS statistic. Here Rickey is 19th all-time and Griffey fails to crack the top 75. In the end then the edge goes to Rickey.
Scarcity
RELATED: Rickey Henderson's Rookie Card is Hot!
Todays Rickey Henderson PC swag is a new photo tile I had made to fit an open spot on the wall! I love all the pictures of my 1980 @Topps Rickey rookies all lined up and thought it would work well next to my other 1980 themed swag! 👀🔥😮💚🐐⚾️🏃🏿💨🧤#rickeyhenderson #thehobby pic.twitter.com/Ulrzjk23Cw
— Man-cave of Steal (#24ever) (@rickey939) January 14, 2021
It goes without saying that practically any set from 1989 is in far greater abundance than any set from 1980. For one thing, card companies set all printers to warp speed in the latter half of the 1980s, ushering in the so called Junk Wax Era. For another, an awful lot of baseball card collections still ended up in the trash in 1980 whereas virtually nobody's Upper Deck cards were getting thrown away in 1989. To date, PSA has graded the Henderson a little more than 48,000 times. Coincidentally, that's about how many PSA 8 copies there are of the Griffey. This one's no contest. Rickey wins on scarcity.
Current Pricing
These days more than ever, card value is less about the card itself and more about the grade. Starting with the Rickey, for example, the card can be found as low as $10 and as high as nearly $200K. Here are a few key benchmarks for the two cards.
In high grades, the Rickey is the more valuable card and it's not even close. Interestingly, however, it's the Griffey that costs a bit more in mid to low grades. Then again, there aren't exactly a ton of low-grade Griffey cards out there since pretty much every one of them went straight to the bulletproof Lucite cardholders and screwdowns that kept top cards safe in the pre-slab era.
Appreciation
With the huge caveat that past performance is not a guaranteed indicator of future results, it's still illuminating to see how the values of the two cards have moved in recent years. Again, condition is king, but here is a look at the trajectories in PSA 8. First, here is the Griffey card, up nearly 70% since January 2022 based on CardLadder sales data.
As for the Henderson card, values have increased "only" 57% over that same time period, an excellent return but short of Griffey territory.
The Greatest
In the end, strong arguments can be made for either card as the decade's greatest. Therefore, the winner may just come down to which one you have! Fortunately, for collectors either undecided or unable to afford either iconic 1980s rookie card, there is always the 1992 Pinnacle's "The Idols" subset. (And you thought Junior's idol was his dad!)
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Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.