To put things into perspective, Mattingly led the Majors in 1986 with a .573 slugging percentage and .967 OPS. 1991 Topps Ken Griffey Jr Seattle Mariners Rookie Card. Plus Bonus Listings! Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. In 2018, the No. Baseball; Sets; 1991; Overview; 1991 Topps. That may seem like a lot until you consider that collectors arent too likely to submit new cards unless they think theyre in top shape. Among them are Hall of Fame-caliber All-Stars like Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Jeff Bagwell. There were only around 6,500 of the Desert Shield versions produced for each player making them very limited and on top of that, you can imagine how few survived war-time conditions in top condition. That was the headline topping an article written by John Leptich for the Chicago Tribune in October 1990, during the first viewings of the new 1991 Topps set. Some of the logos and card backs glow when placed under a black light, demonstrating the resourcefulness and zeal of 1991 Topps collectors to find such an anomaly. Copies of the Whiten variation are currently going for $50-$80 ungraded. 1 (152 . Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? Total Cards: 792. Cheapest, No matter what form of packaging a collector purchased, the promotion appeared, exclaiming the chance to pull any card from Topps vast inventory from the previous 40 years. 1991 Topps Jeff Bagwell Astros Rookie Baseball Card. It was recently sold on eBay for $150.50, thus making it worthy of being on our list of most valuable Bo Jackson baseball cards. Topps may have missed an opportunity to create a more exciting Barry Bonds card, but they definitely didn't miss with Mark McGwire's card. 1991 Topps Baseball saw the company celebrate its 40th anniversary. This has a produced a legion of 91 variation collectors who have been unearthing differences in the set for the past decade, years after it was issued. How many exist today, really, is anybodys guess. Towering well over 7 feet from the hill, Johnson was quite the imposing figure during his big-league career. 1991 Topps Baseball sticks with a then-standard 792-card checklist. https://www.cardboardconnection.com/1991-topps-traded-baseball-cards. By 1993, Jackson was back on the baseball field and made a decent comeback to appear in 85 games for Chicago while helping them to the playoffs. #1. The multiple borders in the design allow multiple 3-D effects chosen seemingly at the whim of the Topps artists. What wasnt known at the time was that only vintage cards valued at $50 or less were randomly inserted into packs. Baseball Almanac. 2. Or Hunt for Errors? The main cards in the set essentially parallel those found in the main 1991 Topps baseball card set. A separate treatment of each of these four attractions might help explain the continuing appeal of The Last Gray Cardboard Set.. If they do, by very little. And since complete sets of the Desert Shield cards were never issued, finding those today is very difficult because they were required to be hand-collated. For Cal Ripken Jr., though, there is no question: the 1991 season was his career year. So why is the set so expensive? However, while some of them made their way overseas, there are reports of others remaining here in the states. Capitalizing on improvement in photography, Topps unveiled powerful images, such as the action-packed Carlton Fisk (with big Cecil Fielder barreling toward home), Walt Weiss and Rickey Henderson cards, all with horizontal displays. Find out for yourself with our FREE checklist to guide you step-by-step. By 1991, Mattingly boosted his slugging percentage to .394 and in the following seasons above .400, although barely. The 1991 MLB season will probably be best remembered for the epic Minnesota Twins-Atlanta Braves World Series, but the release of this Topps baseball set likely ranks pretty high on collectors list. Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. Within ten years, Gum Inc. grasped 60% of the gum production in the US market. I think most were accidental and the result of Topps wanting to get things right as the presses continued.. Most expensive baseball cards in history. Mark McGwire was one of the game's hottest players in the early '90s because of his constant display of amazing power. Many cards are inexpensive and simply not worth the time to grade. That fact probably helps drive the graded card market, too, as having the PSA or BGS stamp gives you at least some assurance you have the real thing. Each wax and cello pack contained an Instant Win Game card that provided the opportunity for the collector to win a complete set from Topps past 40 years. The power with the bat was gone but he still had his glove, though, and in 1991 he would earn his sixth of nine career Gold Gloves. One Million Dollars, the pack advertisement continued. Anniversary Sweepstakes. Collectors will also find a rookie of two-time All-Star Carl Everett, but even that card has minimal value. Tom Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket /100 BGS 9/10 ($3,800,000) CardLadder. Grade: Ungraded. Rickey Henderson headed into the 1991 season looking to somehow keep the momentum going from the career year he had the year before. Chipper Jones was a flat out superstar during the 1990's and fans adored him. He also loves to write about the hobby and has written for Beckett, Topps, SABR and of course, this website. Topps entered the sports cards market in 1952, so the value of this set of cards is very high. Who knew that the young man stoically staring at you in this picture would become a 468-homer-hitting, MVP-winning Hall of Famer? The 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones is the most valuable card in that set and can cost hundreds of dollars in high grade, professionally graded. The perception of the time was the king had lost its crown. As part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations, Topps included buybacks and buyback redemptions for Topps Baseball cards released between 1952 and 1990. We dont know how big a role nostalgia plays with this one, but it still regularly sells north of $40. Contact him at [emailprotected]. Thanks! Or, they'd need to be one of the rarer Desert Shield versions Not to be confused with Topps' set of Desert Storm cards which featured military subject matter, the Desert Shield baseball cards were sent to soldiers who were serving in the Persian Gulf War during that time. It then advertised the insertion of every single card, some 300,000 in total, from its 40-year archive into packs. I was so pumped up and dreamed of pulling a vintage Mickey Mantle or any vintage star for that matter. The fact that this gem from Gwynns 10th season has a $60 sticker today isnt quite as amazing as some of the Padres legends hitting stats, but its still impressive enough. 2. Check out eBay, and youll find complete sets for $10 or less, often under $5. Check Desert Shield prices on eBay (affiliate link), Check Desert Shield prices on Amazon (affiliate link), The relative scarcity of pristine Desert Shield cards has led to some big prices on the secondary market, including . And to date Ive only pulled a single vintage card, a 1968 common!. 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner: $7.25 million. Pricing - 1991 Topps Baseball | Trading Card Database Baseball Sets 1991 Overview 1991 Topps Pricing Complete Set: $20.99 ( Submit a Price) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prices as submitted by site members. By navigating the site, you agree to the use of cookies to collect information. Let's take a look at the top 45 most valuable junk wax-era baseball cards below. 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My years of habitual buying were 87-91. 21 Surprisingly Cheap: Tony Gwynn 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn was arguably the best pure hitter of his era or perhaps any other. The price guide is linked in the top menu of this page. Inserted one per jumbo cello pack of 100 cards. 1991 Topps Emmitt SmithRookie Card (#360) Is Smith the greatest running back of all time? Albert Pujols Cardinals Signed 2000 Multi Peoria Minor Rookie Card 5. That meant several never really made their way into the circulation of collectors. Most are statistical errors, but some players have the wrong photo or wrong team. Card Number: #302. To some veteran. There is plenty of room for all the game's top stars. Not my absolute favorite set of all time, but still an excellent product. With that sweet swing of his, he seemed to effortlessly crush home runs left and right. We are user supported. Im not collecting again till Topps bring back inexpensive cards like they did in the 1980s. I have lots of cards from baseball, hockey, basketball, and football. 1952 to 1990. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the list: 1991 Topps #360 Emmitt Smith Estimated PSA 10 Value: $100 After making his rookie cardboard debut in the 1990 Topps football set, the company included Emmitt Smith in their "Super Rookies" subset the following year. The base card design is very clean and highlights the stellar photography. Heading into the 1991 season, Griffey had already notched his first All-Star selection and Gold Glove, and by season's end, he'd add one more of each as well as his first Silver Slugger. I have some Topps baseball cards (1988-1991).How do I get the value of these cards? Heck, even many minor league sets avoided gray cardboard. It has been graded by PSA as a Mint 10 condition card. You mention that you plate is small so I wonder if it could be related to the Topps Micro issue that year. One of the most important rookie cards of the 1990's, this card is routinely in high demand. It will be blast checking the cards out now for favorites, rookies, errors and all the memories. While they still fell short this set had great photography and design and was clearly one of Topps better sets in the Junk wax era. Among the more well-known and difficult variations to discover include the Doug Drabek card (a white inner border rather than a black one), the Dennis Oil Can Boyd card (hand under the flag on the Topps 40th anniversary logo) and the highly sought Mark Whiten card variation, in which Whitens hand gripping the bat handle overlaps the white outer edge of the card.