Score’s second baseball issue is no great work of art, and it was produced in quantities so large that the cards are generally not worth much at all these days.

On the other hand, ’89 Score does present a clean look, with decent photography on both card fronts and backs. It’s also graced with a pretty strong rookie card crop.

And … well, all those cards on the market means it’s not impossible to find “perfect” specimens, as in cards that grade out at PSA 10 (for example).

Some of those gems still hold some value, too.

What follows, then, is a list of the most valuable 1989 Score baseball cards, based on recent eBay sales of PSA 10 specimens. We’ll start at the bottom of the pile and work our way to the most expensive cards.

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1989 Score Greg Maddux (#119)

After a couple of years of putrid records and ERAs, Maddux broke out to the tune of 18-8, 3.18 ERA. It was teh first salvo in what would become an unassailable assault on a spot in Cooperstown.

It also added a bit of extra oomph to the sight of the future Mad Dog in Cubbies pinstripes, as we see on this bright 1989 Score card.

Value: $15-20

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1989 Score Sandy Alomar Jr. Rookie Card (#630)

Everybody was pretty sure in the late 1980s that the Alomar boys were going to be something special. All we were unsure about was a) when they were going to arrive and b) which one would get to the Hall of Fame first.

As it turned out, Roberto won both those battles, as it took Sandy, Jr., a couple more years to get on track. When he did, though, he won the 1990 American League MVP award for the Cleveland Indians.

Before that, he appeared on this extreme close-up 1989 ROOKIE card in that year’s Score set.

Value: $15-25

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1989 Score Ryne Sandberg (#35)

By 1989, Ryno was a bona fide superstar, and all of his cards were sought-after gems each spring.

This Score beauty shows the Cubs’ Hall of Fame second baseman in action, white pinstriped uniform blazing in the Wrigley Field sunshine and the fabled ivy photo bombing the whole tableu.

Cardboard doesn’t get much more 1980s baseball-y than this!

Value: $15-25

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1989 Score Rickey Henderson (#70)

Like Bonds, Rickey Henderson is one of the greatest players of all time, one who also did his damage mostly while playing left field.

In 1989, Henderson was about to embark on maybe the most productive stretch of his career, and he would be on cardboard fire in the hobby by the time he broke Lou Brock‘s stolen base record in 1991.

Rickey’s cards maintain a lot of that glow even today, and this 1989 Score fits that bill.

Value: $20-25

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1989 Score Cal Ripken Jr. (#15)

Cal Ripken hit something of a lull in the late 1980s — as his games-played streak marched on, his batting averages and overall production slid downward.

The Orioles legend took a lot of heat, too, with plenty of folks suggesting he should rest now and then in the name of boosting his output.

Cal, of course, resisted and forged a resurgence in the early 1990s that cemented his place as one of the most popular players to ever lace up his spikes.

Not surprisingly, Ripken’s cards are almost always among the most valuable in the sets they’re part of, and this 1989 Score is no exception.

Value: $20-25

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1989 Score Barry Bonds (#127)

Yep, people love to hate Barry Bonds.

Yep, he’s having all sorts of trouble getting into the Hall of Fame.

But, nope …

None of that changes the fact that he’s one of the greatest hitters of all time, and enough collectors believe in that notion to keep his cards on the high-value list.

This early-career Pirates card is a must-have for Bonds collectors.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Score Jose Canseco (#1)

After watching Wally Joyner steal his early-season thunder in 1986, Canseco stormed back to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

Then, then next summer, Jose took a backseat to A’s teammate Mark McGwire and Big Mac clubbed 49 home runs to smash the rookie record and become the darling of baseball.

Not one to take a loss of spotlight lightly, Canseco declared far and wide that he would hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in 1988, thereby chartering the 40-40 Club.

And, by golly, if he didn’t go out and club 42 with 40 steals. He led the A’s to the World Series and was named A.L. MVP for his efforts.

Oh, and he also scored (ha!) card #1 in the 1989 Score set. That’s this one, in case you missed it, and it’s still something of a landmark pasteboard, albeit in a cheap and cheesy sort of way.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Score Edgar Martinez Rookie Card (#637)

You can debate the merit of the designated hitter all day long, but it’s hard to deny the sheer quality of Edgar Marinez’s stats at the plate … .312/.418/.515 with 309 home runs among his 2247 hits, good enough for 68.4 WAR.

Also good enough for Hall of Fame election in 2019.

Thirty years before that, Edgar made his Score debut, and that rookie card is still a collector favorite today.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Score Mike Schmidt (#149)

Schmidt struggled with injuries in 1988, and they continued to pile up the next spring, eventually leading to his abrupt retirement in late May.

Even as he hung up his spikes, though, the Phillies legend looked pretty dar mighty there in the confines of his 1989 Score card, connecting hard in his powder blue Philadelphia uniform.

In a way, then, for Schmidt fans especially, that makes this the most valuable of all 1989 Score baseball cards.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Score Craig Biggio Rookie Card (#237)

Biggio was once a promising catching prospect, one who showed every sign of making good on that promise, as evidenced by a Silver Slugger and All-Star appearance at the position before moving across the diamond to second base in 1992.

This 1989 card of the the budding superstar was Biggio’s first base Score issue — he appeared in the Rookie/Traded set in 1988 — and remains popular with collectors.

Value: $25-30

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1989 Score Will Clark (#450)

Clark led the National League with 109 RBI and 100 walks in 1988, and he made his first All-Star team for his troubles.

Then, while collectors were pulling this color-mismatched Score card in 1989, Clark was busy putting up 8.6 WAR en route to finishing second in National League MVP voting to teammate Kevin Mitchell while leading the San Francisco Giants to the World Series.

Sweet-swinging Will The Thrill has better Hall of Fame credentials than some guys already enshrined, and if he ever does get the call, you can bet this 1989 Score card — and every other card featuring The Natural — will see a nice price bump.

Value: $25-30

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1989 Score Kirby Puckett (#20)

Already a superstar after the Twins run to a World Series title in 1987, Puckett became something of a monster in 1988 — .356 batting average, 24 HR, 121 RBI, 109 runs, 358 total bases.

All of that only served to amp up demand for Puck’s cards even higher than it already was.

This Score entry, featuring a classic shot of Puckett in the batter’s box, is as popular today as ever.

Value: $25-30

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1989 Score Tony Gwynn (#90)

After the home run barrage of 1987, pitchers took back a big hunk of their territory in 1988, thanks in large part to some fiddling around with definition of the upper reaches of the strike zone.

The effect was a dramatic reduction in top-end home run production and, in the National League at least, a dampening of batting averages.

I mean, it was so bad that Tony Gwynn — he of the two batting tiles and amazing .370 average the year before — could manage only a measly .313 in 1988.

Which turned out to be six points better than the next N.L. scrub could manage — Rafael Palmeiro finished runner-up for the hiting crown with a .307 mark.

Not that any of that mattered to collectors, who kept right on chasing Gwynn’s 1983 rookie cards, as well as smiling ear to ear when we pulled a new Mr. Padre card — like this one — from our 1989 packs.

Value: $25-35

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1989 Score John Smoltz Rookie Card (#616)

Smoltz took an unusual path to Cooperstown, but he made it there, anyway.

Like Dennis Eckersley before him, Smoltz turned his experience as a starter into a stellar late-career run as a closer.

Unlike Eck, though, Smoltz returned to the rotation his last few years.

That combo pack made his election inevitable, and it also keeps his Score RC in the hobby limelight today.

Value: $25-35

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1989 Score Don Mattingly (#100)

Mattingly saw his power plummet in 1987 and, especially, 1988, dropping from 31 home runs and an MLB-best .573 slugging percentage in 1986 to a much more pedestrian 18 dingers and .462 SLG in ’88.

As it turned out, that was our warning sign that Donnie Baseball’s back troubles would be his doom, but at the time, fans and collectors alike sort of looked the other way and kept pumping money into his merchandise and cards

And, though we may never see The Hit Man in Cooperstown, his 1980s hobby mystique is tough to shake, as evidenced by his presence here among the most valuable 1989 Score baseball cards.

Value: $30-40

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1989 Score Mark McGwire (#3)

Big Mac was up and down in performance and popularity over the first ten years or so of his career. But once he landed with the St. Louis Cardinals and settled in to a groove that saw him smacking home runs at a historic pace season after season, it was all up, up, up for McGwire and his baseball cards.

Until, you know, the PED bubble burst.

The man who broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record is unlikely to ever be elected to the Hall of Fame, but there are still plenty of collectors who cherish the memories and the cards that stir them up.

Value: $30-40

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1989 Score Nolan Ryan (#300)

Talk about a guy who always has some of the most valuable cards in a set!

No one can carry Nolan Ryan’s jockstrap when it comes to popular and expensive baseball cards, and that general theme applies here, too.

This 1989 Score was among the last base cards to show Ryan as a member of the Houston Astros, and it even features the rainbow shoulders to good effect.

The reward for that artistic effort is a tidy price tag for perfect graded copies.

Value: $30-40

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1989 Score Gary Sheffield Rookie Card (#625)

Once upon a time, Gary Sheffield was the can’t-miss nephew of Dwight Gooden, a young man who was going to rewrite the record book.

Then came attitude issues and some early struggles that dimmed his shine, and we weren’t sure anymore.

Then came a trade to the San Diego Padres and the beginning of an upward trajectory that would take Sheff to eight MLB franchises in 22 years and leave him with more than 500 home runs and nearly 2700 hits.

He was a masher whose numbers say “Cooperstown,” but, alas, steroid-laden clouds have wrecked his HOF campaign.

Still, Score his rookie card sticks around lists like this one.

Value: $35-40

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1989 Score Bo Jackson (#330)

Bo in Blue was a sight to behold, and the baseball cards that take us back to those precious few moments when he was at bat, when everything seemed possible, still hold an indescribable mystique for us oldsters who witnessed one of the greatest athletes of the last half century (at least).

Like all the other cards on this list, there are plenty of these to go around, but there’s even more demand for a piece of the Bo Jackson nostalgia.

After all, this just may be the most hopeful of all 1989 Score baseball cards.

Value: $40-50

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1989 Score Randy Johnson Rookie Card (#645)

In 1989, Randy Johnson was huge, gangly, fast, and wild.

And he was trying to make his way with the Montreal Expos. A trade to the Seattle Mariners not long after his Score rookie card hit store shelves, though, set the stage for Johnson to become the Big Unit.

Three decades later, Johnson is a living legend, and his first Score card brings the heat whenever it’s on display. This one stands tall in a constant battle with the Bo above for the title of most valuable of all 1989 Score baseball cards.

Value: $40-50

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“

It has been well documented that the 1988 Score baseball cards set has no soul. That’s especially disappointing when you consider that the issue was supposed to save the hobby, from being great, I suppose.

Because the hobby was already great.

But 1988 Score was going to …

• Bring revolutionary, tamper-proof packs — though Topps did that in 1983.
• Wow us with full-color photos on card backs — though Sportflics did that in 1986.
• Include Magic Motion technology — though Kellogg’s and Sportflics already did that, in the 1970s and in 1986.
• Tantalize our senses with borders colored by the rainbow —  though Topps did that in 1975.

It seems there was nothing new under wax, or plastic, as it were. That didn’t stop Score from cranking out 74.12 million of each card, though.

Now, taken on a case-by-case basis, there actually are come nice looking cards in the 1988 Score set, and the photos are generally solid.

Some of the best cards include:

• Nolan Ryan bringing his Texas heat for the Houston Astros.
• Jose Canseco going all Paul Bunyan in the batter’s box.
• Eddie Murray powering through the strike zone.
• Vince Coleman scorching the basepath.
• Gregg Jefferies being an iconic rookie card as he throws to first base.

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But for this series of posts, where I’m picking the best card for each base set in the 1980s, there can really be only one choice …

Card #180, of Bo Jackson.

Awhile back, when I picked the best baseball card from each year, the 1988 Topps Bo Jackson took the Olympic-year gold.

But that card was off-limits for this series because I’d already written about it, so Shawn Hillegas took 1988 Topps honors.

And that leads us back here, where we can make ourselves whole again with the 1988 Score Bo Jackson.

It’s not quite the stunner that the 1988 Topps Bo is, but it’s not far off.

Bo is in his home white Kansas City Royals uniform, his powerful arms fully extended, his soon-to-be-troublesome hips ready to snap into the swing. Bo’s head is down and his eyes are locked on the ball, maybe a curve just dropping into the zone.

Will Bo make contact? Smack a home run? Generate a gale-force whiff?

The next split second would tell us, if we could only unpause the frame. But then … the moment would be gone, and we’d have to rely on our memory to recall it.

As it is, this card will live forever in its bath of Royals blue, on the borders and on Jackson‘s uniform.

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On this card, Bo will always be young and healthy and like no one else we’ve ever seen in Major League spikes.

And he’ll always have the best card from the 1988 Score set, no matter how much hope you still hold for a Gregg Jefferies comeback.

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(This is the 25th in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

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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.

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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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But this is a huge set, and it’s also a fun set, loaded with rookie cards and funky (but cool) subsets and a bevy of superstars who would someday go on to be enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame.

So, while you won’t find any really high-dollar cards in this issue, these cards still have some fans in the hobby … or at least certain cards do.

Here, then, are the ten most popular 1991 Score baseball cards as ranked by the total number of submissions listed in the PSA Population Report as of late 2020.

1991 Score Chipper Jones (#671)

The Chipper rookie card is the plum of this set by far, fitting since Jones is a top-ten third baseman all time.

And, while Jones has plenty of other rookie cards (and pre-rookies, first [insert company here] cards, and the like), none of the others have the, uh, fire of his 1991 Score RC.

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1991 Score Mike Mussina (#383)

Mussina’s rookie card is just as fiery as Chipper’s, even if Moose’s excellence was a bit more understated over the course of his career.

Still, both men have a plaque in Cooperstown plus plenty of postseason decorations to help support their sterling regular-season records.

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1991 Score Ken Griffey Jr. (#892)

Even though there are way too many of them out there, just like the rest of the 1991 score cards, this Griffey card is a work of art.

The black-and-white motif also highlights and reminds us just how long it’s been since 1991 was front and center on the old wall calendar. At that point, Junior had all the potential in the world but was still a slight “kid” who had yet to really turn on the jets that would leave him as one of the top dozen or so players to ever lace up the spikes.

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1991 Score Bo Jackson (#773)

This card is only slightly less iconic than the black-and-white horizontal “Bo Knows” card from the 1990 Score set that also became a poster.

By the time this beauty hit store shelves, Bo was on the shelf thanks to a debilitating hip injury suffered against the Cincinnati Bengals in a January 1991 NFL playoff game.

Jackson would never play football again, and he’d never dress for the Kansas City Royals again, but he did make it back to the diamond with the Chicago White Sox.

And, more importantly for us here, collectors never, ever quit loving Bo Jackson.

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1991 Score Ken Griffey Jr. (#697)

Another subset, another Junior Griffey card. This one features the phenom just as he jumps to warp speed in preparation for breaking the Kessel run speed record.

Or, maybe the ball coming from his “rifle” arm was going to set the record.

It all gets muddled looking back through the years.

What’s for sure, though, is that this is another popular 1991 Score Ken Griffey, Jr., card.

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1991 Score Nolan Ryan (#4)

As amazing as it seems for a dude who pitched in the Major Leagues for 27 years, Nolan Ryan arguably reached a peak of sorts in 1991 at the age of 44.

That season, he led the majors in WHIP, fewest hits allowed per nine innings, and strikeouts per nine innings, and he also tossed his seventh career no-hitter.

We all knew Ryan would have to hang up the spikes eventually, which seemed to drive the frenzy around his cards to even more furious heights.

Now, some three decades later, the shine has hardly dimmed on Ryan’s star at all, and he always appears near the top of value/popularity lists for whichever set he appears in.

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1991 Score Nolan Ryan (#417)

Same deal here, except this card celebrates another Ryan milestone, 300 career victories, reached during the 1990 season.

Bonus points to Score for including young Reese Ryan marching off the field with his dad … cue the flashbacks to 1982 Fleer Pete & Re-Pete (Rose).

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1991 Score Nolan Ryan (#686)

This Ryan is pretty simple in concept — he was not just a K-Man, like the other dudes in this subset.

He was and remains the K-King.

And, he gets the same mixed metaphor warp speed-parsec treatment that Griffey got above.

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1991 Score Nolan Ryan (#701)

And, yes, yet another Ryan to round out the Nolan Fan Club that was Score in 1991. Or, more accurately, the Score corner of the Nolan Fan Club that we all belonged to.

This one commemorated Ryan’s sixth career no-hitter, which we all probably thought would be his last.

Silly mortals. Silly, limited mortal thinking.

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1991 Score Ken Griffey Jr. (#396)

And yet another Griffey, because if there was anyone who could stand toe-to-toe with Ryan for hobby superiority, it was Junior. This Griffey All-Star card features a caricature of Griffey that would look great blown up and plastered all over a bedroom wall.

Or on Saturday morning TV, with his own cartoon superhero show.

I’d definitely be down for that, and I’ll bet there are plenty of other collectors, Griffey fans, Mariners fans, and just plain old baseball nuts who agree with me.

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That doesn’t mean, however, that all 1990 Score cards are completely worthless.

Because, while you can certainly pick them up for a song in raw condition, and even unopened product is available on the (relative) cheap, high-quality graded singles can fetch decent money.

Well, certain singles, that is.

What follows is a list of the 1990 Score baseball cards that tend to sell for the most on eBay when graded in PSA 9 or PSA 10 condition.

As far as actual values, the cards below range from a high of about $60 in PSA 10 (again, as registered in actual eBay sales) for the Bo Jackson “shirtless” card to a low of about $10 for the Nolan Ryan highlight piece (in PSA 10).

I’ve also included links to current listings on Amazon and eBay so you can check out the very latest prices.

Let’s dig in.

1990 Score Bo Jackson (#697)

By the time 1990 Score baseball cards hit store shelves, Bo Jackson was in full bloom on both the baseball diamond and the football gridiron.

Once a curiosity for wanting to try both sports on the pro level, Jackson had worked through enough of his rawness on the diamond to smack 32 home runs, steal 26 bases, and drive in 105 runs for the Kansas City Royals in 1989, good enough to finish 10th in the American League Most Valuable Player voting.

That fall, he rushed for 950 yards for the Los Angeles Raiders.

Bo knew everything, and Bo could do everything.

Including light the sports card hobby on fire, and Score was right there to capitalize on all that popularity and still-untapped potential.

The shirtless, horizontal, black-and-white Jackson card in the 1990 set, where he’s sporting equipment from both games, became an instant classic.

Even after Bo’s hip injury ended his football career and curtailed his time on the diamond, the image remained ingrained in our collector brains.

It still thrills, even to this day.

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1990 Score Frank Thomas Rookie Card (#663)

Frank Thomas was, briefly, Bo Jackson’s football teammate for the Auburn Tigers. But while Bo went on to win the Heisman Trophy, Thomas hung up his cleats and turned all his attention to baseball.

It was a shrewd move that eventually led The Big Hurt to the Hall of Fame, but not before he became an icon with the Chicago White Sox.

His 1990 Score rookie card was never as popular as his Leaf issue from the same summer, but it has always been an essential part of any Thomas collection.

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1990 Score Larry Walker Rookie Card (#631)

Even though he was one of the greatest hitters of his generation, Larry Walker sort of sneaked up on folks, collectors included.

Part of it had to do with the fact he began his career with the Montreal Expos.

Part of it had to do that many discounted his statistics with the Colorado Rockies, pointing to his success as a creation of the Mile High air.

But Walker won the NL MVP award in 1997, was a seven-time Gold Glove winner, collected more than 2100 hits, and retired as one of the 10 or so greatest right fielders of all time.

So it’s little wonder that his rookie cards have started to heat up a bit again as he makes a late push for Cooperstown induction.

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1990 Score Nolan Ryan (#250)

Anytime you’re considering the most valuable cards of any set issued in the last 50 years or so, one of the first questions you have to ask yourself is … was Nolan Ryan in the set?

If the answer is “yes” then, I’ll lay dollars to donuts he makes the big-money list.

The 1990 Score set is no exception, with the bonus of being among the first wave of base sets to show The Ryan Express as a member of the Texas Rangers.

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1990 Score Sammy Sosa Rookie Card (#558)

Say what you will about Sammy Sosa — and there’s plenty of negativity surrounding him these days — but there is no denying his place in history as Mark McGwire‘s slugging partner in the great Home Run Chase of 1998.

Sure, Sosa’s legacy is tainted to the point that he’ll likely never sniff the Hall of Fame despite his three 60-homer seasons and 609 lifetime dingers, but there is still a certain appeal to his early cards.

This 1990 issue is Sammy’s first Score card and still brings double digits when it appears in PSA 10 condition. It’s a piece of history, for better or worse.

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1990 Score Ken Griffey, Jr. (#560)

If there is one great player from the 1990s and 2000s who seems to have sidestepped any suspicion of PED usage, it’s the inimitable Ken Griffey, Jr.

And, from the time Junior appeared on card #1 in the inaugural Upper Deck issue in 1989, he has been been hobby royalty.

So, while this 1990 Score card is not a rookie, it makes our list of most valuable cardboard in the set.

Like Ryan, if Griffey appears in a set, he’s probably in the top handful, value-wise.

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1990 Score Deion Sanders (#586)

There is little doubt that Bo Jackson paved the way for Deion Sanders to reach some of his sporting goals.

I mean, if Bo hadn’t been tearing it up on the diamond and the gridiron at the same time, would teams in either sport have been so willing to let Neon Deion ply his two-way trade?

Doubtful.

As things turned out, Sanders was as Hall of Fame talent in football and developed into an average (or so) but exciting part-time Major League center fielder.

That was more than good enough to create hobby buzz that keeps Deion on our list even three decades later.

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1990 Score Nolan Ryan – 1989 Highlight (#696)

Yep, this is yet another Nolan Ryan card.

Don’t begrudge him, though — for a few years there in the 1990s, the dude pretty much drove the high end of the market with his mound exploits as he neared 100 years of age.

This particular pasteboard highlights one of Nolan’s many, um, highlights: in particular, the time he fanned Rickey Henderson for his 5000th strikeout.

Cool trivia, cool card.

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If the 1988 Score baseball card set had no soul — a fact we’ve already established — then what can you say about the 1989 Score set?

That it had no face? That it was never born at all?

Maybe.

After all, 1989 Score is kinda like rocks or dirt. You can find it everywhere if you want to, though you hardly ever want to. And no one really knows how it got anywhere in particular.

It’s just always been there.

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And while the brightly colored borders of 1988 Score at least give that set an identity, 1989 Score is about as anonymous as they come.

White borders.

Tiny fanned diamond at the center of card fronts to list player name, position, and team. Score logo in the upper right-hand corner.

The photography is decent in general, though many images came out dark or blurry. They certainly pale in comparison to what Upper Deck gave us in their inaugural set that same year.

And, yes, Score treated to us card-back color photos again, along with plenty of stats and verbiage.

Beyond the “need” to collect one of everything that came out, though, there was little that compelled collectors to stock up on 1989 Score, so we didn’t, for the most part.

When faced with such an uninspiring set, then, how do you go about picking the best card?

Even more than usual, it’s a subjective exercise, though you can apply a few principles …

• Look for a great photo.
• Look for a pleasing color scheme.
• Keep history in mind.
• Give some credence to player selection (i.e., star power is important).

With all that in mind, my choice for the best card from the 1989 Score baseball set is … Nolan Ryan, at #300.

This card offers a strong shot of The Ryan Express right at the end of his drive as he is releasing the ball. Some poor batter stands less than 60 feet away and has a split second to reconsider his career choice as the spheroid of doom rockets toward his body.

The orange diamond used for the Astros designation at the bottom of the card complements Ryan’s rainbow sleeves, and the purple bottom border works well with the crowd in the background.

And, by the time this card was issued, Ryan was gearing up for his first season with the Texas Rangers after having left Houston as a free agent in the off-season.

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In case you have forgotten the early 1990s, Ryan cemented his legend in Arlington and, in the process, pushed the value of all his cards toward the top of the heap for whatever set he appeared in.

So, yeah, this card checks all my boxes and is as good a choice as any for best card in the 1989 Score set.

Damning with faint praise?

Maybe, but the worst baseball card I ever owned was still better than the best bill anyone ever sent me. So, as paper goes, this one is pretty solid.

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(This is the 28th in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

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Do you realize just how serious Craig Biggio was about playing second base?

I mean, did you know that he used to don a face mask, chest protector, and shin guards just to take his position behind Houston Astros pitchers?

Or that he wore his batting helmet — backwards — in the field?

Or that his mitt was the size of a Charlie Kerfeld, just in case something wild happened?

You say you didn’t know any of that?

Well, take a look at card number 561 in the 1989 Donruss set and you’ll see Biggio in all his tools-of-ignorance-second-base glory.

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Now, sure, the position indicator at the top of the card next to Biggio’s name says “C” but we all know he was a second baseman. A Hall of Fame second baseman, in fact.

And, yes, Biggio’s page at Baseball Reference tells us that he played 428 games behind the plate in the Major Leagues. And that he won a National League Silver Slugger award at catcher the same year (1989) this Donruss rookie card was issued. And that he was an All-Star catcher in 1991.

But Biggio was a second baseman.

A Cooperstown second baseman.

Known for his grit and determination.

And what could be grittier and more determined than standing there at second base, as Biggio does on his 1989 Donruss card, in full battle regalia? Just waiting for a collision or some sort of hazmat situation?

Not much that I can think of.

And besides, we’ve already had a ton of catcher cards in this series of posts about the best baseball card from each base set of the 1980s. My pledge — to myself at least — was to limit the repeats and position overlaps, so I can’t include another catcher here.

Which means that Craig Biggio is a second baseman, as everyone already knows.

Because there is little doubt that the 1989 Donruss Craig Biggio card is the best card in the set.

Not the most iconic — that’s the Ken Griffey, Jr., rookie card.

Not the most valuable — again, that honor belongs to Junior.

But Biggio does well on both counts.

So, when you consider the whole package, no one can touch Biggio.

Consider …

• This is Biggio’s Donruss rookie card.
• A PSA 9 copy will cost you $5-10 on eBay (affiliate link). A perfect PSA 10 runs about $15. Both of those are cheap prices for the rookie card of a Hall of Famer, but it’s also a freaking miracle any card from this set can bring even that much money. This set still flows into the market from the depths of ancient stockpiles like water from an underground stream.
• The card looks great. Great.

Maybe not the design itself, because 1989 Donruss is pretty blah.

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But the Astros logo is in full display on the card front, and the normally ugly fadeaway top border matches almost perfectly.

The bottom border repeats that orange-to-yellow color scheme and makes the rainbow stripes on Biggio’s shoulders stand out even more than they would on their own.

And the picture sets it all off, of course.

There stands the future HOFer, crouched and focused on the action in front of him, waiting for something to come his way. Maybe it will be a runner or a batted ball or a thrown ball.

Whatever it is, you know Biggio will handle it with aplomb, because he has the tools and he’s ready to protect his turf.

Right there at second base.

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(This is the 26th in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

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