1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. #1 Rookie: Value by Grade, Story and Fakes

Quick answer: It’s the most famous card of the junk wax era. It is not rare, but condition makes a huge difference to price. Observed sales (SportsCardsPro, accessed 2026-10-07):

Raw copies: about $61–$188 (late Sep–Oct 7, 2026).
PSA 9: about $425–$622 (Aug–Oct 2026).
PSA 10: $4,999.99 to $6,650 across 2026 sales.

Card facts

Field	Detail
Set	1989 Upper Deck Baseball, 800 cards
Card	#1, Ken Griffey Jr. (“Star Rookie”)
Release	Low series (1–700) to the hobby in April 1989. High series (701–800) in October
Firsts	Upper Deck is credited with white card stock, full-color backs, an anti-counterfeiting hologram, and foil packs
Pack price	$0.99 suggested retail

Source: BaseballCardPedia, 1989 Upper Deck, accessed 2026-10-07.

The story collectors love

A teenage employee picked him. Tom Geideman, Upper Deck’s first employee, was 18 when he chose Griffey for card #1. His other candidates were Gregg Jefferies, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Gary Sheffield.
The uniform was altered. V.J. Lovero’s photo shows Griffey in his Class A San Bernardino Spirit uniform. Upper Deck recolored the cap on a Scitex machine to look like Seattle’s: the “S” went from silver to yellow, the star was removed, and navy became Mariners royal blue. That was pre-Photoshop; Photoshop 1.0 shipped in 1990.
Sheet position (disputed). Card #1 sat in the top-left corner of each 100-card sheet, where it was prone to centering and corner damage. Upper Deck sent extra Griffeys to customers who complained. A former sales VP said there “must have been” a plate of 100 Griffeys to cover replacements, but the plant manager said in 2008 that he never saw one.

Sources: BaseballCardPedia and ESPN, accessed 2026-10-07.

What drives the price

Grade and company. PSA 10 sells for roughly 10× a PSA 9 on the sales below.
Centering and corners. White borders show every ding and off-center cut.
The hologram on the back. Missing or duplicated holograms are known flaws. BaseballCardPedia notes they sell at a discount.
Authenticity. Upper Deck added the hologram to fight counterfeits. Check that it is present and looks right.

Value context (sold data)

From SportsCardsPro, accessed 2026-10-07. Sale titles are seller-written.

Condition	Observed sold range	Period
Raw (ungraded)	~$61 – $188	late Sep – Oct 7, 2026
PSA 9	~$425 – $622	Aug – Oct 2026
BGS 9.5	$1,273 – $3,599	2026 (wide range; subgrades matter)
PSA 10	$4,999.99 (Jan 30) – $6,650 (Oct 7)	2026
PSA 10 with MBA Gold Diamond sticker	$10,000 (one sale)	2026

What’s an MBA Gold Diamond? MBA (Mike Baker Authenticated) offers a second-opinion “Diamond” sticker for cards left in their original PSA/BGS/SGC slab. Gold means MBA judged the card at least 0.5 grade higher than the slab grade (MBA, accessed 2026-10-07). It’s a third-party sticker, not a PSA grade. One sale isn’t enough to measure any premium.

SportsCardsPro summary values (proprietary algorithm, not individual sales), as of 2026-10-07: ungraded $92.46, grade 7 $118.75, grade 8 $172.50, grade 9 $491.92, grade 9.5 $1,899.99, PSA 10 $5,811.25.

The low-grade anomaly

Grade	Observed sold	Period
PSA 1.5	$507 – $750	Feb – May 2026
PSA 2	$182 – $480	2026
PSA 5	~$61 – $110	2026

A PSA 1.5 has sold for several times the price of a PSA 5. The likely reason is that very few people bother to grade badly damaged copies. Collectors building one-of-every-grade “rainbow” sets then compete for the scarce low grades. This is an explanation, not a confirmed cause.

Population check: PSA CardFacts figures pulled on Sep 16, 2026 and published by Cardboard Police show 8,072 PSA 5s, but only 4,937 copies across every grade from PSA 4 down to PSA 1. That fits the low-grade scarcity explanation.

Raw vs graded, asking vs sold

PSA’s Standard tier costs $59.99 per card as of 2026-10-07 (see grading comparison). On the sales above, a raw copy plus that fee usually costs more than a PSA 9 sells for. Only a realistic PSA 10 candidate is worth submitting purely on the numbers.
Ignore asking prices on “Gem Mint” raw listings. Raw cards don’t carry grades.

Is it the most-graded card?

Yes, by current reports. On September 16, 2026, Collector Nation reported it as the first trading card to pass 200,000 graded copies across all companies. PSA’s own CardFacts count that day was 132,165 slabs (130,393 straight grades plus half and qualified grades), with 4,251 PSA 10s (Cardboard Police, accessed 2026-10-07). BaseballCardPedia also calls it “the most graded card” per PSA. Older articles give different rankings (ESPN’s history quoted PSA/DNA calling it the second-most graded at the time), so always cite the date. Counts change monthly.

Other 1989 Upper Deck cards to check

The set has several corrected errors. BaseballCardPedia (citing Upper Deck) and Radicards give the same correction points (BaseballCardPedia; Radicards, accessed 2026-10-07):

Card	Error	Corrected after
#357 Dale Murphy (guide)	Reverse negative	~2% of print run
#652 Pat Sheridan	No position on front	~2%
#13 Gary Sheffield	“SS” printed upside down	~15%
#321 Gary Varsho, #583 Mike Gallego, #627 Bill Schroeder	Wrong or reversed back photo	~20%
#72 Brian Holton, #628 Fred Manrique, #636 Herm Winningham	Wrong back photo / misspelling	~30%

These percentages are the company’s figures as reported. They aren’t independently audited print counts.

FAQ

Is my 1989 Upper Deck Griffey worth thousands? Only in top grade. The raw copies observed above sold for about $61–$188.

Should I grade mine? Only if centering, corners and surface look flawless under a loupe. See the PSA grading scale guide.

Why was a $0.99-a-pack card so overprinted? See junk wax era explained.