Just like the flagship set that preceded it, the 1989 Topps Traded baseball card set provided collectors a simple, clear design with implausible imagery.
And, to nobody’s shock, actually, it produced a rookie card of one of many recreation’s biggest of all time…
Loads of younger gamers have been hyped as future superstars all through the Eighties.
However loads of them went bust.
Ken Griffey Jr. was a obvious exception.
Although accidents hampered his eye-popping manufacturing in his later years, he nonetheless turned in probably the greatest resumes in baseball historical past.
His rookie card is the headliner to this 132-card field set.
However he isn’t the one famous person within the guidelines.
And on this information, we’ll check out the 15 most respected.
Let’s soar proper in!
1989 Topps Traded #41T Ken Griffey Jr.
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $115
There is no doubt about it: that is by far and away the important thing to the set.
Whereas it is much less well-liked and fascinating than his iconic 1989 Higher Deck rookie card, this card marks Ken Griffey Jr.’s first look in a Topps baseball set.
And, for that purpose alone, it is a must-have for any Griffey or “junk wax” period collector.
From the time “The Child” made his Main League Debut on April 3, 1989, at residence towards the Oakland Athletics, the expectations for his profession have been sky-high.
His father had been a three-time All-Star throughout his 19-year profession, however all indicators pointed to his son being even higher.
And one MVP Award, 13 All-Star appearances, ten Gold Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers and 630 residence runs later, these revelations proved true.
All through the Nineties, few gamers, if any, have been extra enjoyable to observe than Ken Griffey Jr.
He may do all of it on each side of the ball.
Griffey Jr. stays one of the vital well-liked gamers of his period, and his rookie playing cards ought to stay in excessive demand for fairly a while.
1989 Topps Traded #48T Rickey Henderson
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $50
Throughout his first stint in Oakland from 1979-1984, Rickey Henderson acquired American League MVP votes 4 totally different occasions, together with a second-place end in 1981.
Nonetheless, Rickey’s brash character rubbed many the fallacious manner and he was traded to the New York Yankees following the 1984 season.
After four-and-a-half stellar campaigns in pinstripes, Henderson got here again to Oakland on June twenty first, 1989.
Traded for the trio of Luis Polonia, Greg Cadaret, and Eric Plunk, Henderson was electrical in his return to the defending American League champs.
Henderson led the Majors with 113 runs scored and 77 stolen bases between his time with the Yankees and A’s, whereas additionally pacing the American League with 129 walks.
Most significantly, maybe, Henderson was named ALCS MVP within the A’s five-game overcome the Toronto Blue Jays after slashing .400/.609/1.000 with two residence runs, 5 RBIs, seven walks, and eight steals.
He adopted that up with a sterling .474/.524/.895 slash line towards the Giants, swiping three bases and driving in three throughout the crew’s championship sweep.
1989 Topps Traded #106T Nolan Ryan
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $50
Following a contract dispute with the Houston Astros within the wake of the 1988 MLB season, the 42-year-old righty signed with the Texas Rangers with loads left to show and lots left within the fuel tank.
In truth, Ryan threw absolute darts all yr for his sixth and remaining 300-strikeout marketing campaign.
With 301 strikeouts in 1989, Ryan grew to become (and stays) the oldest pitcher in baseball historical past to hit the 300-strikeout plateau in a season.
He completed the 1989 marketing campaign with a 16-10 file, a strong 3.20 ERA, and led the Majors in hits allowed per 9 innings (6.092).
He additionally completed fifth within the Majors in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.071) and tied for fourth in walks given up (98).
Remarkably sufficient, this was the primary of 5 seasons for the 42-year-old flamethrower in a Texas Rangers uniform.
Ryan hung up his cleats after the 1993 marketing campaign following a UCL tear in his throwing arm, ending his profession at 46 years of age because the all-time MLB chief in strikeouts (5,714), walks allowed (2,795), and hits allowed per 9 innings (6.6).
Additionally, the Corridor of Famer’s seven no-hitters are three away from second place (Sandy Koufax, 4) for probably the most in Main League Baseball historical past.
1989 Topps Traded #57T Randy Johnson
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $40
One final straw was all it took for the Mariners to deliver residence one of many biggest pitchers of the trendy period.
By the top of Might, Seattle’s pitching workers ranked close to the underside of the Majors in almost each main statistical class.
So, when the M’s bought bludgeoned 10-0 by the Purple Sox on Might twenty fifth, the entrance workplace sprung into survival mode, dealing free-agent-to-be Mark Langston to the Montreal Expos for pitchers Brian Holman, Gene Harris…
…and Randy Johnson.
“We checked out plenty of packages, however we needed to get pitching,” Mariners Director of Baseball Operations Woody Woodward mentioned. “We did not have the deal nailed down till after the sport.”
After Langston refused a three-year deal that very same day, the Mariners noticed no selection however to make a transfer.
That transfer introduced them Johnson, a future Corridor-of-Famer who’d go on to win 5 Cy Youngs, 4 ERA titles, a pitching Triple Crown, and a World Sequence MVP award.
The rookie lefty made 22 begins for 73-win Seattle in ’89, ending 7-9 with a 4.40 ERA.
He surrendered simply 118 hits in 131.0 innings for his new crew, placing out 104 batters and strolling 70.
1989 Topps Traded #110T Deion Sanders
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $40
Even when Deion Sanders was a two-way rookie, he was made for Prime Time.
Sanders acquired his first style of the Large Leagues as a member of the New York Yankees Simply over a month after the Atlanta Falcons chosen him fifth general within the 1989 NFL Draft.
And whereas he performed solely 14 video games for the Bronx Bombers in ’89, he made a memorable splash in only a handful of at-bats.
The 21-year-old middle fielder slashed .234/.280/.404 in 50 plate appearances (47 at-bats).
It wasn’t a lot of a pattern measurement in any respect, but it surely did deliver with it one spectacular little bit of historical past.
On September fifth, Sanders hit his second Large-League residence run in a 12-2 street rout of the Seattle Mariners.
The subsequent day, he performed his final six innings of the season earlier than packing his luggage for Atlanta.
On September tenth, Sanders performed his first snaps for the Falcons.
Atlanta misplaced to the Rams, 31-21, however Prime did his half with a 68-yard punt return for a TD.
In doing so, he grew to become the primary and solely participant to hit an MLB residence run and rating an NFL landing in the identical week.
1989 Topps Traded #2T Jim Abbott
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $20
Born and not using a proper hand, Jim Abbott labored doubly onerous to depart his incapacity within the mud.
This included studying easy methods to swap a left-handed glove from his proper arm to his left as quickly as he was required to area.
The outcomes of his tireless efforts have been breathtaking.
In 1987, the College of Michigan sophomore was named the nation’s greatest newbie baseball participant and greatest newbie athlete.
He then went on to win a gold medal with the 1988 US baseball crew and to develop into the primary US pitcher to beat the Cuban nationwide crew on Cuban soil in 25 years.
When the Angels picked Abbott eighth within the 1988 MLB Draft, he might have already got been probably the most beloved member of their group.
He was additionally MLB-ready, skipping the Minors solely to hitch the big-league squad in ’89.
Unfazed by the wild media frenzy over his each transfer, Abbott received 12 video games in his first professional baseball season, probably the most since Ernie Wingard received 13 for the 1924 St. Louis Browns.
He completed fifth within the AL Rookie of the Yr race, pitching to a 3.92 ERA and placing out 115 in 181.1 innings pitched.
1989 Topps Traded #123T Jerome Walton
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $20
The remainder of his profession didn’t go as deliberate, however that does not make Jerome Walton’s rookie yr any much less spectacular.
Promoted from Triple-A early within the marketing campaign, the younger middle fielder rapidly introduced himself as one in all baseball’s most harmful leadoff hitters.
Each a speedster and a refined gap-to-gap hitter, Walton hit only a shade beneath .300 (.293) with 23 doubles and 24 stolen bases in 515 plate appearances.
The one-two rookie punch of Walton and Dwight Smith grew to become quick fan favorites at Wrigley, jockeying backwards and forwards for Rookie of the Yr honors as 93-win Chicago marched to a division title.
At season’s finish, Walton took 24 of 26 first-place votes to develop into the Cubs’ first Rookie of the Yr since Ken Hubbs in 1962.
Smith acquired the opposite two votes.
“I am glad I received it and I am glad he is the runner-up,” Walton mentioned. “Me and Dwight tried to pump one another by means of the season. We have at all times been pleasant.”
Walton completed his breakthrough marketing campaign with a high quality NLCS efficiency, going 8-for-22 within the crew’s five-game loss to San Francisco.
It was arguably the final large second of his MLB profession.
1989 Topps Traded #11T Bert Blyleven
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $15
Bert Blyleven’s profession was left for useless a number of occasions.
In 1989, he resurrected but once more, this time in entrance of his hometown buddies and followers.
In 1988, the then-Minnesota Twins righty posted the worst ERA (5.43) and most losses (17) for a professional starter within the Bigs.
Now heading into his age-38 season, it appeared Blyleven’s time as baseball’s favourite cockroach was coming to an finish.
Not so quick.
Shortly after the ’88 marketing campaign, the Twins traded the veteran righty to the California Angels for 2 prospects.
A Backyard Grove native, Blyleven’s childhood goals have been now coming true.
“I’ve dreamt about this since I used to be rising up,” Blyleven mentioned.
Rejuvenated by the return to his native Southern California, the 38-year-old star turned again the clock for one the very best years of his profession.
Blyleven completed 17-5 for the third-place Angels and almost reduce his earlier yr’s ERA in half (2.73).
He walked a career-best 1.6 batter per 9 innings and threw a league-best 5 shutouts, the final coming in his remaining begin of the yr.
1989 Topps Traded #87T Eddie Murray
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $15
Eddie Murray’s remaining yr in Baltimore was unequivocally terrible.
5 years after profitable the 1983 World Sequence, the O’s had devolved into the worst crew in baseball.
Unwilling to speak to the media and at odds with proprietor Edward Bennett Williams, Murray was solid because the scapegoat for Baltimore’s sharp fall from grace.
O’s followers jeered Murray by means of the ’88 marketing campaign.
His 28 residence runs provided little respite from the boos because the crew spiraled to a 54-107 end.
At an deadlock with the group and the town, Murray was given a reprieve when he was traded to the Dodgers within the offseason.
After 12 tumultuous years with the Orioles, it was time to begin once more.
Nonetheless, his first yr in LA wasn’t what anybody hoped it might be.
Regardless of hitting 20 residence runs and driving in 88, the 33-year-old first baseman had his worst season as a big-leaguer to date, setting new lows for batting common (.247), slugging share (.401), and OPS (.743).
The defending World Sequence champs backslid to a 77-83 file, and Murray was once more beneath scrutiny.
1989 Topps Traded #104T Kenny Rogers
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $15
Kenny Rogers could also be the very best developmental success story in Texas Rangers franchise historical past.
After only one yr of highschool baseball, Rogers was swooped up by the Rangers within the thirty ninth spherical of the 1982 MLB Draft.
It wasn’t the shortstop’s .375 common for Plant Metropolis Excessive College that bought him the nod.
The Rangers’ scouting workers was wowed by the zing of Rogers’ throwing arm.
The truth that he was left-handed was even higher.
Rogers joined the group at 17 and was by no means thought-about for a position-player position.
As an alternative, the crew’s minor-league workers labored for seven years to show him the ropes of being knowledgeable pitcher.
They labored from the bottom up, constructing a lethal pitch arsenal out of regular, gradual progress.
In 1989, Rogers rewarded the Rangers’ affected person method with a implausible rookie yr out of the ‘pen.
The 24-year-old workhorse tied for fifth within the Majors with 73 appearances, pitching to a powerful 2.93 ERA in 73.2 innings.
He labored any position supervisor Bobby Valentine requested him to and labored it nicely, placing out 63 batters as all the pieces from a bridge reliever to a mop-up finisher.
1989 Topps Traded #122T Omar Vizquel Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $15
Omar Vizquel’s file of two,709 video games at shortstop may not be a factor if not for a contract dispute.
With Rey Quiñones locked in because the crew’s beginning SS, the Venezuelan native was all however assured to move to Triple-A after Spring Coaching.
That every one modified when Quiñones reported late to camp.
Vizquel’s hitting wasn’t there, however his protection was.
The extra he held it down at brief, the extra expendable the dearer Quiñones grew to become.
By the final day of Spring Coaching, Quiñones was off to Pittsburgh, and Vizquel had edged Mario Diaz for the beginning job.
“I needed to ask one of many coaches, ‘What do I do with my luggage? I have to know, as a result of persons are packing,'” Vizquel mentioned later.
Vizquel had a tough yr on the plate in ’89, slashing .220/.273/.261 in 431 plate appearances (387 at-bats).
But, his glove work was stellar sufficient to maintain him within the lineup for 143 video games.
If he had didn’t crack the big-league squad in ’89, Vizquel would have completed his profession with 2,566 video games on the six, fifteen shy of former file holder Luis Aparicio and over 100 lower than present runner-up Derek Jeter.
1989 Topps Traded #34T Julio Franco
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $10
Julio Franco was one of the vital underrated hitters of the Eighties.
He was additionally uncompromising and generally onerous to get together with.
“Julio Franco is the sort of man you need to kiss one time and kick the following,” former Indians supervisor Pat Corrales mentioned.
Franco performed six years with the Cleveland Indians from 1983-1988, topping .300 within the final three.
By 1987, although, the Indians had circled their abrasive second baseman as a commerce chip, procuring him to suitors in hopes of filling a number of holes on the roster.
The Indians virtually pulled the set off on a multi-man take care of the Yankees in ‘87, however that fell by means of.
A yr later, the Indians bought the haul they have been searching for: offloading Franco to the Texas Rangers for a three-player bundle.
Franco joined new acquisition Rafael Palmeiro in Texas’ remade infield and didn’t miss a beat.
Now batting fifth (and having fun with way more lineup safety), the first-time All-Star and two-time Silver-Slugger hit .316 and set new career-highs for residence runs (13), RBIs (92), walks (66), slugging share (.462), and OPS (.848).
1989 Topps Traded #93T Rafael Palmeiro
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $10
Regardless of posting a top-ten batting common (.307) in 1988 and making his first All-Star crew, Chicago Cubs first baseman Rafael Palmeiro discovered himself on the commerce block.
Sarcastically sufficient, Palmeiro’s lack of energy punched his ticket for Texas.
Palmeiro hit simply eight residence runs in ’88, a stark distinction to the burly, power-hitting first basemen of the time.
Two months after the marketing campaign, Palmeiro was traded to the Rangers as a part of a nine-player deal.
He wasn’t shy about his emotions.
“That is what occurs when you may have (a supervisor and basic supervisor) who do not know what the hell’s happening,” Palmeiro mentioned on the time.
In later years, Palmeiro would develop into one of the vital feared home-run hitters within the recreation.
Nonetheless, his first yr in Arlington appeared to validate the considerations of the Cubs’ entrance workplace.
The 24-year-old Cuban native hit .275 with a career-low .728 OPS in ’88, hitting simply eight residence runs as soon as once more, this time in three extra plate appearances (632).
Palmeiro’s down yr was simply one in all a number of disappointments for a revamped Rangers squad that completed fourth in a stacked AL West.
1989 Topps Traded #100T Willie Randolph
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $10
Willie Randolph was a Gold Glove-caliber second baseman born within the fallacious period.
Over the primary fourteen years of his MLB profession, Randolph’s lowest fielding share was .972.
He topped .980 seven occasions, a wild accomplishment, contemplating the pains and complexity of the second-base place.
Nonetheless, Randolph was caught in the identical league as Gold Glove stalwarts corresponding to Detroit’s Lou Whitaker and Seattle’s Harold Reynolds.
He couldn’t purchase a break.
It was at all times the identical story, even when he moved to the Nationwide League for yr #15.
On a one-year take care of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Randolph slashed .282/.366/.326 to earn his sixth All-Star nod.
He additionally posted the second-best fielding share of his profession, committing simply 9 errors in 681 possibilities (.987).
Unfortunate for Randolph, he was now in the identical league as Ryne Sandberg.
The Chicago Cubs star posted a .992 fielding share to seize his ninth straight Gold Glove, as soon as once more leaving Randolph out within the chilly.
1989 Topps Traded #111T Steve Sax
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $10
In 1983, Steve Sax was a defensive sideshow.
In 1989, Sax was probably the greatest second basemen in baseball.
It was a surprising transformation.
Sax grew to become a one-man comedy present in his second big-league season, wildly lacking the mark on routine throws en path to a 30-error marketing campaign.
Identified now because the “yips,” the formerly-named Steve Sax Syndrome led followers to half-jokingly put on helmets behind the first-base dugout at Dodger Stadium.
Six years later, Sax was now enjoying the steadiest protection of his profession as the most recent member of the New York Yankees.
He led all AL second basemen in fielding share (.987), committing simply 10 errors in 782 possibilities.
Sax additionally topped the AL in double performs turned at second base (117).
Contemplating Sax’s manufacturing on the plate, his protection was a hell of a luxurious for the 74-win Yankees.
The 29-year-old All-Star led all New York hitters in batting common (.315), runs scored (88), and stolen bases (43).
He additionally led the crew with 205 hits, the second-and-last time in his profession that he reached 200 hits for a season.
1989 Topps Baseball Playing cards In Evaluation
So there you may have it, the fifteen most respected 1989 Topps Traded playing cards.
As you may see, there are many different big-name superstars to get pleasure from apart from Ken Griffey Jr. and his rookie card.
Guys like Nolan Ryan, Rickey Henderson, Randy Johnson, and Eddie Murray are a number of the recreation’s all-time greats.
And there are different nice names like Jim Abbott, Steve Sax, and Jerome Walton who have been interest favorites of the period.
It is an amazing set general and options loads for the true hobbyist to get pleasure from.
Whereas most of the playing cards on this set are principally nugatory in as we speak’s market, it’s actually not brief on the nostalgia meter.
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