Closing out the week
of Griffey I am posting up a collection of his cards that I picked up over the
year. I covered my Top 10 favorite pickups yesterday so today is the “Best of
the rest” post.
The group includes some early pre-rookie cards, error cards,
magazine cards, food issues, specialty releases, broder cards and some shiny
foil and acetate cards oh and one that I consider to be the worst Griffey card
every released (that is saying a lot too)
I will start with a couple of pre-rookie/rookie cards: 1988 Cal League San Bernardino Spirit Blue, 1988 Cal League San Bernardino Spirit White and 1989 Donruss The Rookies. The 1988 white version is not considered an "official" card, it is actually a broder version of the blue jersey card but still a cool addition.
Next on to some magazine issues: 1990 Baseball Cards Presents, 1990 Topps Magazine and 1993 Sports Card Magazine
Some food issues: 1995 Upper Deck Dennys and 2000 Fleer Oreo
The specialty releases: 1990 Topps Toys R Us, 1993 Topps Toys R Us, 1993 Upper Deck 5-Year Anniversary and 2004 Upper Deck PowerUp. The reason the Toys R Us releases are important to me is because I worked for Toys R Us for over a decade, starting as an employee and working my way up to a Store Director before leaving after I was disabled. The TRU cards are both Ghost cards I finally replaced.
Shiny foil and acetate cards: 1995 Stadium Club Clear Cut, 1997 Topps Gallery Of Heroes (Uncut), 1999 Topps Gallery Of Heroes, 2000 Topps Tek No Foil Error, 2000 Topps Tek Unfinished Error (Missing all foil and text), 2000 Upper Deck HoloGrFx Future Fame, 2000 Upper Deck Ionix Pyrotechnics
Some fun cards: 1993 Studio Superstars on Canvas, 1996 Stadium Club No Foil Error, 1996 Pinnacle Aficionado, 1999 Upper Deck Wonder Years, 1999 Stadium Club, 2004 Fleer Legacy, 2005 Topps, 2009 Upper Deck Griffey Returns Promo, 2015 Stadium Club
There are some special cards here including 2 Ghost cards. The 1993 Studio Superstars On Canvas was one of my first Griffey pulls, I loved this card and was sad when it went away in the purge. The 1996 Aficionado is another Ghost Card, I still remember where I was when I pulled it, at a small card shop in Milton, Washington that I just happened to see and pulled over to take a look. This card still smells like bubble gum... yum...
The 1999 Wonder Years and 1999 Stadium Club cards have some cool photos and the 2005 Topps shows his 500th Homerun. The 2015 Stadium Club is a fun card with the two Griffeys (sorry Craig) in a playful embrace, does it get any better?
The 2009 UD Welcome Home card is a favorite because it depicts Griffey's return to Seattle, though I will say that the cartoonist took some artistic licensing when they drew the card. The scene is from the Pike Place Fish Company at Pike Place Market, they are the ones who yell out orders and throw fish when you buy from them. They are located right under the Pike Place Market sign facing North and across the street from the first Starbucks store. You can not see the Space Needle from this location not to mention that the way that the sign is pointing to Safeco is pointing in the wrong direction (West) because Safeco Field is Southeast of Pike Place Market but still a fun card.
