The 90’s: Underprinted Sports Cards in a Decade of Excess
One of the biggest hobby stories of 2009 was the comeback of the 90's collector. Coming back into collecting for this group (mid 20's-early 30's) meant coming to grips with the reality that your collection is probably worth nothing. The reason for this is simple, they printed too many cards! I was sorting through a box of cards the other day and found a Classic Shaq rookie that boasted "1 out 85,000" on the card! When producing 85,000 of a card is worth noting, how many 1990 Donruss did they make! I have been trying to rid my home of these ugly red bordered nuisances for 20 years now. I will tell you right now, it's not possible. The other day, I found a few in my sock drawer! I just hope this isn't a burden my kids (that I haven't had yet) will have to carry.
But, there is hope. There may be some extremely valuable cards hidden within your 90's junk box. In my youth, I distinctly remember a card that never made sense. It was a 1991 Topps Chipper Jones RC that had a strange palm tree on it. I never did figure out what it was. When I stopped collecting in the late 90's, the card was thrown into a box with over 20,000 cards (20% of which was 1990 Donruss).
Fast forward to the year 2008. I decided to do something that would be very painful, but nevertheless needed to be done - I picked up a Beckett Baseball Price Guide and flipped to the Early 90's section. To my surprise I noticed a $200 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones Rookie Card. I raced to my 90's junk box and searched for hours to no avail. I may never find it or it might turn up in my sock drawer tomorrow. Either way, it made dealing with 90's a little easier and little more valuable. Maybe you will have better luck finding your version of the Chipper Jones Desert Shield.
Here's a list of some needles that may be in your 90's haystack:
- 1996 Sport Illustrated For Kids Tiger Woods II #536 ($250)
- Anything Topps Tiffany!
- 1991 Topps Desert Shield #333 Chipper Jones RC ($200)
- 1993 Stadium Club Murphy Derek Jeter RC ($60)
- 1991 Wild Card Brett Favre #119 5 Stripe ($40), 10 Stripe ($80), 20 Stripe ($120), 50 Stripe ($250), 100 Stripe ($350), 1000 Stripe ($1,800)
- 1991 Stadium Club Super Bowl XXVI #94 Brett Favre UER ($600)
- 2000 Football (I found 2 Tom Brady rookie cards among the cards in my collection.)
These are just a start. I encourage anyone who reads this to add a few that come to mind using the comment form below.
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Benjamin
It’s always fun just to go thru your cards; I collected too much in the 90’s as well. I have found that making “lots” of certain players helps with the resale. Even if you can’t get more than a dime per card, sometimes that adds up.