1989 Upper Deck
Total Cards: 800
Rating: 8.2 (131 votes)
Click here to Rate
Top Sets: #43
Release Notes: Distributed as a first series (#1-700) and High Series (#1-800). Factory sets include #1-800.
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Cards
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1 | Ken Griffey Jr. SR, RC | Seattle Mariners | |||
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2 | Luis Medina SR, RC | Cleveland Indians | |||
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3 | Tony Chance SR, RC | Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
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4 | David Otto SR, UER |
Oakland Athletics | |||
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5 | Sandy Alomar Jr. SR, RC, UER |
San Diego Padres | |||
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6 | Rolando Roomes SR, RC | Chicago Cubs | |||
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7 | David West SR, RC, UER |
New York Mets | |||
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8 | Cris Carpenter SR, RC | St. Louis Cardinals | |||
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9 | Gregg Jefferies SR | New York Mets | |||
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10 | Doug Dascenzo SR, RC | Chicago Cubs |
Inserts and Related Sets |
Trivia |
- This was the first set ever released by Upper Deck.
- This was the first set to feature the use of holograms.
- The first cards to be sold in tamper-proof foil packs.
- At $0.89 a pack, carried, by far, the highest suggested retail price of its time.
- Upon its release, there was speculation that collectors wouldn't pay that much for a pack of cards and that the market couldn't support a sixth card maker.
- Eighteen year old Upper Deck employee Tom Geideman is credited for wanting to make Ken Griffey Jr. the #1 card in the set.
- Ken Griffey Jr. was actually not wearing a Mariners cap when the picture was taken. He was wearing his minor league San Bernardino Spirit cap and the picture was edited to look like a Mariners cap.
- The picture was so convincing that Griffey himself, supposedly, asked an Upper Deck photographer a year later when the picture was taken because he didn't remember posing with a Mariners cap.
- The set arrived 3 months later than planned because of production problems.
- Card #117 of Gary Pettis shows him holding and looking at the very card he's on.
- The #1 Ken Griffey Jr. card was featured on the cover of the May 1991 issue of Sports Card Trader magazine.
- Some of the other players considered for the #1 card were Gregg Jefferies, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Gary Sheffield.
- Angels pitcher DeWayne Buice (card 147) owned a 12% share of Upper Deck.
User Comments |
So, probably get some skeptical boos here....have any of the black border cards been added to the trading card data base?. Read an interesting article from about a year ago that was a good quick read, I am gathering that there is debate on scarcity etc.? If any one knows feel free to share. Thanks. Love this site. | ||
I was 4 years old when I went into a local video rental store and used 50 cents to purchase 8 cards from a trading card vending machine. This is the first instance I ever purchased sports cards. The only card I remember coming from that pull was, indeed, a Griffey rookie. Not knowing how to preserve cards at such a young age, it was placed into a shoebox with several others added later, I still have it but it is in exc condition at best because of blunted corners. This is just a nostalgic set to me which I have now completed. | ||
dupesaplenty.
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Forum |
| Subject | Replies | Last Post |
| 1989 Upper Deck | 2 | Dec 3, 2019 7:57 PM by HutNut |
| 1989 Upper Deck High Series | 1 | Feb 2, 2019 4:14 PM by jimetal7212 |
| '89 Upper Deck #636a/b Difference? | 5 | Oct 26, 2018 1:19 PM by captkirk42 |
| variations | 0 | Oct 5, 2014 3:32 PM by beano56 |
| 1989 Upper Deck #701a Upside Down MLB Logo | 6 | Sep 19, 2014 7:40 PM by HowlingFury |
External Links |
- Article: Ken Griffey Jr. shares the stories behind his 1989 Upper Deck rookie card
- BaseballCardPedia: 1989 Upper Deck
- PSA Article: The Beginning of an Era – The Story of the 1989 Upper Deck Baseball Set
- PSA Price Guide: 1989 Upper Deck
- Upper Deck Product Page: 1989 Upper Deck
- YouTube: 1989 Upper Deck Box Opening
