By the time 1992 Score baseball cards debuted that spring, we pretty much knew what to expect from the fourth major card manufacturer — clean cards with sharp photography front and back, lots of color in the design, and plenty of variety spread throughout a humongous checklist.
The 1992 set didn’t disappoint on any of those fronts, with a dozen or so subsets (depending on how you count them) spread across two series totaling nearly 900 cards.
The other thing we came to expect from Score was also in full effect for 1992 — retail-outlet-choking production runs.
The good news about that for modern collectors is that you can generally find the cards for pretty cheap prices, and also that you can go really high-end if you want to.
In fact, of the 3300 or so ’92 Score cards submitted for grading to PSA, about two thirds of them scored (ha!) a perfect 10, according to the PSA Population Report.
And some of those “perfect” cards carry decent value on the secondary market these days.
Here, then, are the ten most valuable 1992 Score baseball cards based on recent auction sales.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to card listings on eBay and Amazon.)
1992 Score Bo Jackson (#361)
Bo didn’t take the field at all in 1992 after undergoing hip replacement surgery earlier in the year.
And it looked for a long while like he might not play the year before, either, after a devastating hip injury in a January playoff game ended his NFL career.
But, after being released by the Kansas City Royals in March of ’91, Jackson signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox and then worked his way back to the diamond over the course of the summer. In 23 September games, Bo hit .225 with three home runs and 14 RBI, enough for the Sox to hold on while he rehabbed in 1992.
Also enough to land Jackson his first round of White Sox cards in ’92.
Collectors and fans have always been enthralled with Bo, so it’s little surprise this one ends up on the top of the heap here, despite his early retirement in 1994.
Expect to pay about $30 for a perfect graded 1992 Score Bo Jackson.
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1992 Score Ken Griffey Jr.(#1)
Griffey was coming off his first 100-RBI season in 1991 as these cards rolled off the presses the next spring, but he had been a hobby darling ever since he christened Upper Deck as card #1 in their inaugural set in 1989.
Junior put together another fine all-around campaign in 1992 before really finding his power stroke (45 homers) in 1993 to send his cards spiraling even further upward.
Over the next few seasons, he established himself as a Seattle Mariners legend and retired in 2010 as one of the greatest players to ever lace up the spikes. Griffey’s popularity in the hobby never wavered along the way, and he’ll appear on lists like this whenever he’s featured in a set.
These days, Griffey’s 1992 Score card sells for around $30 in PSA 10 condition.
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1992 Score Nolan Ryan (#425)
Ryan arguably hit his peak of popularity in 1991, at the ripe old age of 44.
Already a legend and surefire Hall of Famer, Ryan rang up the milestones upon joining the Texas Rangers — 5000th strikeout in 1989, 300th win (and sixth no-hitter) in 1990, seventh no-hitter in 1991.
It all added up to an explosion in Ryan’s card prices, and special deals like this No-Hit Club card.
The shine hasn’t really diminished over the decades, and you’ll find Ryan near the top of any “most valuable” list for sets from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.
This is about a $20 card in PSA 10 condition.
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1992 Score Cal Ripken Jr.(#433)
If anyone could rival Nolan Ryan’s hobby popularity in the early 1990s, it was Cal Ripken.
After putting together probably his finest overall season in 1991 and copping his second American League MVP award (the first came in 1983), Ripken set his sights on finishing off Lou Gehrig‘s record for consecutive games played.
That mark fell in 1995, by which time Iron Cal’s cards were permanently entrenched in the hobby firmament.
These Score All-Star cards featuring caricaturized versions of the players involved were sort of a throwback to the 1938 Goudey sets, and collectors tend to have a love-hate attitude toward them.
Still, this primetime Ripken card brings about $30 in slabbed gem mint condition.
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1992 Score Cal Ripken Jr.(#884)
One of two Ripkens on this list, this card is a nod to Cal’s pursuit of Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played.
Gehrig was nicknamed the Iron Horse as a nod to his durability, but the moniker had its origins in the 19th century — early locomotives were also dubbed Iron Horses since they could carry people long distances (like horses) and because they were, well, made of iron.
Fitting, then that Ripken stands in front of a train in this black-and-white shot, and not too surprising that it checks in around $20 in PSA 10.
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1992 Score Rickey Henderson (#430)
Henderson was one of three veterans, along with Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken, who rode big performances and bigger milestones to the top of hobby hot lists in the early 1990s.
For Rickey, the accolades that propelled him forward included an American League MVP award in 1990 and the all-time stolen base record in 1991.
All of that, along with Henderson’s relative youth and presence atop the powerful Bash Brothers A’s lineup pushed his rookie card into triple-digit territory and raised all the rest of his issues along with that 1980 Topps beauty.
This flashy record breaker card is pure 1990s … and a $15-20 buy in PSA 10 condition.
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1992 Score Manny Ramirez (#800)
One of several Manny rookie cards issued in 1992, this is one calls attention to his status as a first-round draft pick.
The silhouetted shot of Ramirez on top of a faded solid background calls to mind 1954 or 1958 Topps cards, which certainly hasn’t hurt its popularity over the years.
Despite his big career numbers, the PED cloud hanging over his head makes it unlikely that Manny will gain Hall of Fame enshrinement, but the lingering possibility and the memory of his greatness at the plate keep his cards warm in many corners of the hobby.
Today, the 1992 Score Ramirez RC is a $15-20 buy in PSA 10.
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1992 Score Ryne Sandberg (#200)
After bursting onto the scene with a National League MVP performance to help the Chicago Cubs win their first-ever division title in 1984, Sandberg settle in for several seasons of All-Star, Gold Glove work that left him as one of he best second basemen in the game.
And then, in 1990, he found a new power stroke, pacing the Senior Circuit with 40 home runs and igniting a fire under his baseball cards all over again.
Ryno retired (for the second time) at a relatively young 38 after the 1997 season and played parts of “just” 16 seasons in the Majors, but he is a Cubs legend and made the Cooperstown cut on his third try in 2005.
His cards have never really wavered (Waverly?) in popularity, and this base 1992 Score issue usually sells for about $15 in PSA 10 condition.
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1992 Score Ken Griffey Jr.(#436)
One of two Juniors on our list, this cartoonish All-Star card has a very early-1990s feel to it, which is fitting, since Griffey was one of the absolute best the decade had to offer.
This pasteboard featuring a young Junior still a year or two short of his prime trades for around $15 in PSA 10 condition these days.
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1992 Score Nolan Ryan (#2)
You won’t find very many “most valuable” baseball card lists without a Nolan Ryan in the mix, and this list features a couple of them.
This is Nolan’s base 1992 Score card, showing him rearing back, about to deliver a world of hurt to some poor, overmatched batter. The Texas home whites are tinged blue in Ryan’s own immense shadow, and the Rangers logo looms like a beacon to the upper left.
A really well-composed card that checks in at about $15 in slabbed GEM condition.
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1992 Score Jim Thome (#859)
Thome scored rookie cards in several 1991 issues, but not in Score.
So … 1992 Score was his First Score Card, or FSC.
And, if that’s not enough Score/score mention in the span of a few words, consider this …
In his career, Thome scored 1583 runs, scoring 612 of them on home runs, while also driving in another 1087 runs — that’s a lot of teammate scores at least partially attributable to the Hall of Famer.
These days, Thome’s FSC generally scores around $15 when it first scores a PSA 10 grade.
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